We heard from our Second Woody Son on Sunday. With a Two Minute Phone Call….yep because of his age {under 18} he is only allowed to use the phone that is there for the recruits and its a set amount of time.
He tried to call on the Saturday but the lines dropped out every time I picked up my phone. And it came up as a Private Number so I guessed it was him.
Mind you I thought he was allowed his Mobile on the weekends…..but at the moment he only can use what they allow him to use. Hope that changes around week 4.
You see they are getting them used to the Navy way of life/living so there is limited contact for four weeks so that they become a strong family unit….they all must pull together and have each others back covered so that when they graduate they will enter the Navy career/boats looking out for each other.
I have seen that with our older son – his Crew Members are like his Family Members.
Two Minute Phone Call ::
It was not long enough to ask all the questions I had stored up but it was long enough to find out that he is coping with the way the leaders speak to the recruits, he passed his swimming test which is a HUGE thing to pass in the very first week – most people have to re-set that test.
And he is coping with the strict way of making his “Rack” – he soon learnt that an 250 word essay was a good learning curve on how to manage his time so that from now on he makes his limited time work for him.
He is also coping with the early hours, late nights which I didn’t think he would handle too well.
He did say that he has NOT passed his Fitness Test which I was wondering if that would be the case – you see he takes after my side of the family, we are not into running and he has to pass 25 Push Ups, 25 Sit Ups, and a 2.5k Run. All in one go.
The Sit Ups he can do no worries.
The Push Ups – they fail nearly every one for….on technique. Even our older son who is super Fit failed when he was at basic training because of his Techniques!!!
The Run – not sure what’s going on but he is struggling with the time limit……and a Two Minute Phone Call is WAY too short a time to give him hints on his mindset to over come this little bit of challenge.
So David and I are both writing him letters this week to send on down with his Favourite Biscuits!!!
Yep we are allowed to send him Parcels, wished we had of known with our older son because we only found out towards the end of his basic training so he only ever got one parcel from us {slackest Parents award goes to us!!}
Even Grandparents/Uncles/Aunties – basically family and friends – are allowed to send him Parcels….
mind you I think they get checked before they are passed over to the Navy Recruits!!
So One Week Down.
Ten Weeks To Go.
And he said something that I am so proud of him “Mum, its hard but I am going to keep going because its not forever“
So glad He is in Good Hands.
So glad that he is doing fine.
So glad to hear from him 🙂
Would You Like To Pass On Any Words To Our Second Son?
Let me know here and I will include them in our Letter or email me your kind support to liswasdream@gmail.com.
If you do want to send him a Parcel of yummy stuff let me know and I will give the details 🙂
Thanking you for Following his New Life Journey.
** If you are NEW to here, you might want to read these posts to help you understand how our second son has joined the Navy!!
Off To Brisbane – Our First Woody Son Navy Journey
The Beginning of A New Life – Our First Woody Son Navy Process
Here We Go Again – Our Second Son Navy First Steps
The New Journey Begins – Our Second Son Navy Process
Cheers
Lisa
New Life on the Road.
Lisa, I’m absolutely fascinated by your David’s story with your boys! I life in the U.S. but I just subsribed to your blog. I have to do the last step at home as I’m at work right now with a firewall. After Germany and Tahiti, Australia is third on my bucket list to so hope to get there! Keep up the fantastic journey and I look forward to next post! I gotta go back and read about the bus now 🙂
Thanks Mike for making my day 🙂
You sure do have a great “Bucket List”!!! Be great to catch up with you somewhere on the road.
Loving your story telling, Lisa. I’m sure the next ten weeks will pass quickly. Wish him all the best!
Dorothy recently posted..Imperfect writing is still writing
Thanks Dorothy, Sure do hope that the next 10 weeks fly by so that I get to hug him again 🙂
Oh, Lisa. It must be so hard for you. Keep telling that all of this is worth it. Whatever hardship he faces, it means he’ll appreciate all the victorious moments all the more. Your boy is wise. It’s not forever and 10 weeks will zoom by x
Grace recently posted..Getting To Know Your Personalities
Thanks Grace for your kind words….I am hanging in there, hearing his voice on the phone sure helps 🙂
And yeah he is going to grow from this experience, and its all going to be so good.
Hi there, your posts are such a great guide for families with no experience in the armed forces ie us. This would be my first port of call. I saw an advert for the Army Band recently and suggested that to Teen16… but his life’s ambition is to grow his hair long and be a heavy metal rocker, so the Army band isn’t what he has in mind.
Seana – Sydney, Kids, Food + Travel recently posted..I Wasn’t Cut Out For The Life Of A Taxi Driver!
Thanks Seana, we are learning as our boys are learning/growing/changing and being in the Navy sure is something both of our boys are doing well at 🙂
Hmm…no long hair and Army don’t actually work too well together!!
But a Heavy Metal Rocker works really well – maybe he could try out the show “Australia Got Talent” 🙂
Second Woody Son I have great faith in your abilities. It is your positive attitude that will be your greatest asset. I know you won’t give up and before long will have passed your tests and you will feel so good.
budget jan recently posted..TUESDAY IN TOWNSVILLE – RADICAL BAY MAGNETIC ISLAND
Jan, I have passed your kind words onto Zachery and he said to say Thanking you xxx