<p>Time2, okay but that is an opinion which all are welcome to. </p>
<p>As a parent answer these three questions.
What does it mean to serve in the military?
What does it mean to be a commissioned officer?
Can you really give the proper guidance to your child on the first two questions?</p>
<p>That was only three questions, it goes way deeper than that.</p>
<p>I will only speak for how it came about for our DS. When he first came up with the thought of serving he did in fact come to me. As a veteran I gave him one piece of advice. Do your research and know what your getting yourself into. !!END!! </p>
<p>Aside from my family my military experience was the best thing that ever happened to me. I could feed him all my information but it was how I felt. When I joined I did my own research, my parents had no say! I know exactly why I raised my hand.</p>
<p>That said there are many parents that have not served and respectfully they do not understand the full responsibility of what it truly means to serve. This is where it becomes very important in regard to involvement. For the past two years our DS has read some serious books on the military. He has also researched all the SA’s and their history. In the end he is going for the Naval Academy. </p>
<p>He is our child and he can speak very intelligently in regard to what it means to serve, the Academy history, honor concept, mission statement, the different communities, and a few other things that were a surprise. There is no way my wife could have helped him with that because she has not served. To be honest some of what he read would have scared her. I did serve and would refuse to have given him the information because I feel that if youre going to be an officer Mom & Dad will not be there when you need them. He now knows things I never did. All of his intellect came out at the B&G interview. He spoke very intelligently and we were impressed. Not one answer or prompt came from us. </p>
<p>Bottom line for my ex-military opinionated mind is this. In the heat of it all Mom & Dad are not leading these men and woman. As an veteran when I served I wanted a competent strong officer that could think on his feet and know what to do and when to do it. </p>
<p>In the end how your child goes about this process is up to them. If they involve you and you get involved okay; however, the Academy, B&G’s and MOC will know it!! We heard this at the Academy admissions intro, the B&G interview and at Academy day from the MOC reps. There is no twisting what they all said and that was for parents to stay out of it. Again a parent can do as they feel with this.</p>
<p>Agree to disagree it’s nothing but one stated opinion that is working well for our DS. If he gets in great, he knows the expectations. If he gets passed by then he will have to digress and figure things out again for himself.</p>
<p>It’s all good, cheers!</p>