Oh, man, I'm pissed. And there is NOTHING I can do about this situation but vent here where I am anonymous for the most part, and it can't be linked to my son.
Our younger son is in Army basic training. This is my son who spent 4 years at a military college and endured everything that setting could throw at him. There was a classmate his knob year (freshman year) who on MULTIPLE occasions entered my kid's room, dropped trou and laid his junk on my kid's lap top.
Same classmate used to throw his entire body weight into the bathroom stall door when my kid was in there. He had upperclassmen who decided he didn't belong there and made it their "life mission" to make him quit. (Didn't work.)
He also had a classmate and friend die by suicide with another classmate attempting suicide days after the first one. The boy has been through some shit.
Now in BCT, he is one of the older SITs. (Soldiers in Training) He has tried to stay above the petty crap that happens. Has a few younger soldiers that he tries to look after and be an example. He was selected as bay boss and lost that after an inspection turned up some nasty underwear behind a cabinet and something even worse that I'm not even going to name. When he told us about that I felt like he was sabotaged.
Last week he was promoted to platoon leader. He's excelled in every exercise. Made Sharpshooter in marksmanship. Well, he called today and to REASSURE ME tells me at least he didn't get arrested. Of course I got spooled up about that. He said he wasn't ready to talk to me or his dad about all the details but the upshot was he was fired from the platoon leader position because someone filed a sexual harassment complaint.
Now I know the cliche mother who could never imagine her baby doing anything wrong. That ain't me. But I know my son and his character. He would not abuse or harass anyone, and certainly not any sort of sexual situation. He promised he'd fill us in next time we talk, so I was left imagining all the ways this could have played out.
His fiancee reached out to me after talking to him. (He always calls us, talks for 5-10 minutes and then spends the rest of his phone time with her). He did tell her everything. And WEEKS AGO, he got out of the shower and walked into the locker area with no clothes or a towel on. And apparently somebody was uncomfortable with that. To be clear, this was a men's locker/shower room and he walked from the shower to his belongings on a bench directly across. He wasn't waving his johnson around like a flag. He wasn't trying to sword fight with it. But it bothered some pathetic dickhole SOOOO much that they waited 3 whole weeks, until he was promoted to a leadership role, to bring the complaint.
WTF? These are purported grown ups who are supposed to go out and defend our country. And, "Damn, man! Put a towel on" is not in their vocabulary?
I feel so bad for Drill Sergeants having to referee shit like this.
But mostly I feel bad for my kid who is truly committed to doing the best he can and helping those around him succeed.
And because I will never have a chance to say this to his "accuser", I'm just gonna say this now. It's not my kid's fault that you did steroids or whatever and you're embarrassed by what you have. Don't piss on him with it.