I hope he got it in writing, Bogie. My callow youth was taken advantage of when I enlisted, lo those many years ago. I didn't have anyone I could depend on for counsel, so I got screwed.
The recruiter in my hometown was a stand-up guy. I'd signed in May to go to Ft. Knox and be a tanker. Everything he and I discussed was up front. Then in June things at home got worse so I talked to him, he sent me back to AFEES in Atlanta, and there I asked for something else in Combat Arms leaving RFN, if not sooner. The recruiter there offered Infantry School and I took it, asking for Airborne and Ranger Schools afterward. He said there were no slots available (an out-and-out lie, I learned later), but said that someone from ABN "always" went to the units during training cycles to ask for volunteers.
To make a long story somewhat shorter, the guy never showed during my training. I didn't know and no one bothered to tell me that all I had to do was go across post to ABN School HQ after graduation and volunteer myself. I was taught at home to shut my face and do as I was told, under threat of overwhelming punishment, so I didn't question Uncle's minions, I sucked it up, took my assignment to West Germany and Mech Infantry, and went overseas. Without going into details (that "long story short" thing again), it sucked big double-jointed donkey d*cks.
So, all that to set up this: If the kid's got listening apparatus, try to talk to him about it before he goes. The one thing I wanted and needed back then was reasoned guidance, and I never got it. I hope he gets better than I did.
