My only question is from a poster perspective. We tell every poster that is a candidate, come fall scholarship does not matter. Cadets don't discuss this at all! However, if I am reading this right, it will now be glaringly obvious which cadet is contracted and which is not.
I just can't see how that is good for morale or esprit de corps within every unit.
Maybe just me!
Still haven't heard anything about this from my son, but then again he doesn't tell me that much anyway.
Lastly, it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only parent not getting very much contact from their cadet. My DH & I were starting to wonder if we'd done something wrong with his upbringing. It's definitely been an adjustment for us.
Speak of the devil, I heard from my son this morning, of course it was him asking if I could put $50.00 on his student card. I guess we have to take pleasure in what we get.
Lastly, it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only parent not getting very much contact from their cadet. My DH & I were starting to wonder if we'd done something wrong with his upbringing. It's definitely been an adjustment for us.
Future2LTMom - if your son is adjusting well to being away from home, and confident enough in himself to not be contacting you for every little thing, I'd say you guys did something very right with his upbringing. It's an adjustment for everyone, but it sounds like you've done a fine job.
My son is a 3-yr AD scholarship recipient and is part of large battalion. He was VERY disappointed when he showed up on campus for his first semester and was informed that he doesn't get a uniform until he contracts. Keeps 'em hungry, I guess. However, Jcleppe brings up a good point -- what happens to the kids that participate in Ranger Challenge? DS is trying to get on the team, but he's not yet contracted. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
Also, without trying to divert the thread, here's another thing that kinda surprised me. DS called to tell us to NOT be surprised if we start getting calls from him asking for money for the RC team. He said they are self-funded. They had a car wash last weekend, so they'll have to see if the money they made will be enough for their needs before they start hounding the parents for funds.
Lastly, it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only parent not getting very much contact from their cadet. My DH & I were starting to wonder if we'd done something wrong with his upbringing. It's definitely been an adjustment for us.
This sounds to me like a sad situation. As mentioned, the esprit de corps. Plus, does the weight of all of the extracurricular activities fall upon those who are contracted? What about the military ball? What about flag ceremony and Veterans Day ceremony? My son is NROTC, but where he goes they have a hard enough time getting people to step up to do these extra things. For instance at the University sports games. Raising and lowering of the flag each day. If it all falls to the contracted, it could get rough.
And Future2LtMom, you certainly are not alone in having limited contact from your son. Mine is pretty good at texting me if I text him first, but I very rarely get a phone call. I miss him, but I reminded myself that no news is good news.
In the past at my son's battalion nearly all cadets received ACU's, if they had enough to go around, not every cadet was issued the Greens or now the ASU's unless they were contracted. Any cadet, contracted or not received the ASU's if they joined Color Guard and those that made the ranger challenge team received ACU's I would imagine this will be what continues to happen.
I doubt they will restrict EC's like Color Guard or Ranger Challenge to just contracted cadets, some battalions are smaller and would have a tough time filling spots with only contracted cadets.
It's true that you don't need to be on scholarship to get a contract. You do however need to be either a SMP cadet that can contract their sophomore year, or a MS3 if you don't have a scholarship. Not a lot of MS3's do Color Guard, if it's only for contracted cadets it could be tough to get enough cadets to make it viable.
No matter how hard a non scholarship cadet works and shows commitment, they can't contract until the start of their junior year. Keeping these cadets out of any battalion EC's for the first two years doesn't sound like a good idea for this group.