@HopefulDad2026 awesome post and advice to your son, Dad. Every case is surely different. I got inspiration from your post and my son isn't waiting for a waiver decision. I dropped him off at Dulles six hours ago for his flight back to California. The waiting and anticipation and worry doesn't stop with waiver or admission decisions. We've waited and fretted with him about MOS assignments. duty station assignments, and promotion and education boards.
I've told the story here about my son's journey from high school to commissioning and if that worry and waiting wasn't enough, it continued for the next 10 years and will go on I'm sure until he no longer has living parents. DS is on his first B billet after three operational commands. This B billet however has him in the field and has him close to the tip of the spear without being on deployment. He was extended on his first operational tour and did two deployments with them. He was supposed to have orders to TBS as a staff platoon commander/instructor but that was changed to CENTCOM/Forward. We live just through the woods from Camp Barrett/TBS/FBI, etc. and was getting excited to have him back. The CENTCOM thing was only for a year and he got to fly home once so it went pretty quick. He then got orders to
https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Agencies/Deputy-Commandant-for-Information/MCIOC/ which sounded awesome and again, is on the TBS side of MCB Quantico.
"Mama's getting her baby back." I must say DW handled it well when he called and told us he was going to California instead. He got an ORDMOD to the 1st Marine Division. He called his monitor, "WTF, dude" and the monitor said, "I don't know, bro" or something like that. Monitor told DS he got told from on high to change his orders. DS was told this never happens and the only way he could go five-plus years operational without a B billet is if somebody asked for him. So off he went to Camp Pendleton. He spent two years at Division with most of that as the CO of Mobility Assault Company which is as badazz as it sounds. He's now on the down slope of his three years at 29 Palms and was selected to attend the command and staff course for his first masters.
Whew, that's exhausting just rehashing and writing it out.