- Joined
- Dec 22, 2018
- Messages
- 378
Like many of the outstanding young prospective and current SA folks on this forum, my 11th grade son is an overachiever who has rarely experienced failure. He also thrives on recognition and right now in the most stressful period of his life so far (junior year, SAT, SA process starting, etc) he mentioned how much he loves working at his job as a busboy/food runner because he feels like he is really contributing and because he gets a lot of recognition (in the form of compliments and kudos) for it. He said he feels free there.
I am hopeful that he achieves his dream of serving as an officer some day, but I am worried that even though he is structured, disciplined, competitive - things that might work really well in the SA lifestyle - he and actually none of my kids have never really responded well to negative environments. I am concerned that being yelled at constantly and basically what I imagine to be broken down during initial training and plebe year might not work for him. He is very stable and strong emotionally so I know he could get through it but would he want to...We have no military experience at our house so forgive my assumptions and generalizations.
The second part I am concerned about is the professionalism at the SA's. He recently quit the school baseball team because after 2 years on the HS teams he said he just couldn't put up with the negative atmosphere surrounding the team that the coaches are not able to control. He says the guys didn't always respect each other, were often negative to each other, didn't respect girls, were occasionally racist, etc. They didn't bully him personally because he felt they respected him but he just got so tired of the negativity. It is the first thing he has ever quit and he did it day after tryouts - however, he is going to stay on his summer league team where he loves the guys and atmosphere. Do SA Forum folks feel the military culture at the SA's is better at controlling this kind of thing? He and I think so because it is a workplace and therefore more professional by its nature. Obviously, this could be encountered anywhere but I would love anyone's thoughts on my rambling concerns.
I hope his USNA Candidate Visit Weekend this month and SLE in June might give him a tiny taste of what he might be getting into, and I truly hope he loves it. I am just not 100% sure about the fit for his personality.
Thank you.
I am hopeful that he achieves his dream of serving as an officer some day, but I am worried that even though he is structured, disciplined, competitive - things that might work really well in the SA lifestyle - he and actually none of my kids have never really responded well to negative environments. I am concerned that being yelled at constantly and basically what I imagine to be broken down during initial training and plebe year might not work for him. He is very stable and strong emotionally so I know he could get through it but would he want to...We have no military experience at our house so forgive my assumptions and generalizations.
The second part I am concerned about is the professionalism at the SA's. He recently quit the school baseball team because after 2 years on the HS teams he said he just couldn't put up with the negative atmosphere surrounding the team that the coaches are not able to control. He says the guys didn't always respect each other, were often negative to each other, didn't respect girls, were occasionally racist, etc. They didn't bully him personally because he felt they respected him but he just got so tired of the negativity. It is the first thing he has ever quit and he did it day after tryouts - however, he is going to stay on his summer league team where he loves the guys and atmosphere. Do SA Forum folks feel the military culture at the SA's is better at controlling this kind of thing? He and I think so because it is a workplace and therefore more professional by its nature. Obviously, this could be encountered anywhere but I would love anyone's thoughts on my rambling concerns.
I hope his USNA Candidate Visit Weekend this month and SLE in June might give him a tiny taste of what he might be getting into, and I truly hope he loves it. I am just not 100% sure about the fit for his personality.
Thank you.