My Son, a Marine?

"Why the Marines, Travis?" My mind was racing, and alarms were sounding, preparing me for combat. Anything but the Marines. I've seen the news - I know what can happen.

At the age of barely seventeen, Travis approached me and Mark, his dad, about joining the Marines through the Delayed Entry Program. It was a program where he would keep in weekly contact with recruiters, and have frequent meetings so they could prepare him both physically and mentally for service in the Marines. Travis would leave for Boot Camp after high school graduation and just three days after his eighteenth birthday. I thought this may be fine for some, but not for my son.

To me the Marine Corp stood for things like, the most rigorous boot camp out there, the first ones in to battle, war and death - these things scared me. Freedom? Yes, they stood for that too, but this was my son we were talking about.

"I like what they stand for," Travis said, to him they stood for honor, courage, and commitment. "and I like the idea of being the first in." The first in? I didn't want him "in" at all. His dad and I agreed - No, definitely not the Marines - not yet. He could wait until he was eighteen, and that was final... or so we thought. The battle had just begun.

Days turned to weeks, and weeks into months, still he persisted. The onslaught came daily. "This is what I want. Come on, I'm not a baby." My heart said different. An image of him from years before flashed through my mind. At the store, close by my side, he was uncertain about going two aisles over to grab a carton of milk. His big eyes saying "Stay right here Mom, don't leave me." Now, my eyes and heart were the ones
pleading.

The battle raged; recruiters called; Travis begged. Each night he came at us from a different angle, his arsenal fierce, and always ready. Mark and I held our ground, for a while at least.

Travis was determined to join and we knew that he would, in a mere ten months, as soon as he turned eighteen. Were we wrong to make him wait? Were we hurting him by not letting the recruiters work with him and prepare him for these ten months? Would he suffer because of our decision? Doubts began to build, and our wall began to crumble.