mc2000 said:
I assumed all along this is something parents aren't involved in, but after coming across this forum I realize that was a bad assumption.
Actually that was not a bad assumption at all. Once he gets to college he will be seen as a legal adult, and even the bursar at the school will lock you out until your child authorizes you the ability to talk to them. ROTC as a contracted cadet will adhere to the Privacy Act, and even if he authorized you with the unit, NROTCHQ will most likely not. Plus, he won't want Mommy or Daddy calling the det. to assist. At least that was our DS. He basically threatened us with dis-ownment if we even thought of it. We did think of it because they screwed up his payment, and now we were financially taking the hit. He assured us he would get it done. He did because he understand the levity of being locked out by the bursar for the next semester registration.
There are many cadets/mids that had parents assist them a lot when they were in the process, and once they were there in ROTC the kids had to catch up very quickly since Mom/Dad were in control prior.
ROTC is not collect a check and spend 3 hrs a week in it. It is a serious commitment and if their desire is only to collect the check, it will be hard to stick with it.
I am not saying that your child is in it for the check. I am saying he is now learning a lesson at an earlier age than the avg hs sr. aka 18 yo which is to come 8 months from now Mom and Dad won't be there with you. They won't be calling up the CoC on your behalf. This is on their shoulders.
When our DS was in HS and going through the AFROTC HSSP process I must have drummed it in his daily...I won't be going to college with you, it is up to you to stay on top of timelines. The only 3 things we did for him was:
1. Pay the college app fee and matriculation deposit...he had to inform us when it was due
2. Review his essay
3. Drive him for interviews and DoDMERB exam.
As a parent the DoDMERB is where he will really need the assistance. They are not accustomed to filling out medical questionnaires, especially when they have caveats, of meds after the age of 13. They immediately think about amoxycillin for a cold.
Get his medical records in order if you know that he might have a medical issue. A broken arm at 14, no surgery required is nothing. They expect kids to have broken bones, now broken bones with pins at 17, they are probably going to want additional info to see more from you regarding how it has healed since it was such a short time ago.