I was assured by whistling idiot that my truck would rip in half if the trailer hit a bump. The safety chains ripped through the metal but the rear subframe didn’t break. Don’t ever doubt Tesla engineering. 💪

This is going to be a bit of a painful rant from a proud / patriotic American. My 21 year old son has been going through the @USArmy enlistment process for about a year. From getting a GED for them (he was home schooled) to taking the ASVAP to qualifying for electronic warfare to MEPS - the whole process was about 9-10 months and involved multiple medical exams at Fort Meade. I don't know why he chose Army over say Navy or Air Force (which would have been my choices) but he chose Army. He finally gets to Boot Camp at Fort Sill and in the first week he's deemed medically disqualified. He was asked before getting vaccinations there if he ever had a reaction to a vaccine and he answered truthfully that as a toddler he was hospitalized with HSP after his MMR shot. Instant on the spot DQ for him. This SHOULD have been caught somewhere in the 9-10 months before he shipped off to boot camp so that we didn't waste anyone's time. But that's not even what I came here to rant about! I assume the recruiters are just goaled on getting gets to boot camp. When he landed at Fort Sill we were supposed to get a call from with information on how we could mail him / contact him. We got no such call or information. Worse - in the 30 minutes he gets each week to call he was extremely upset at how he was being treated. "Worse than a prisoner" are his words. Being treated like scum because you have a medical condition and can't serve? That's what's happening to him and other kids in his situation. The discharge process? He said it would take 6-9 weeks! He's being held in what's called 'reception' and he's not even allowed to go through the training which he's very qualified for physically. In 'reception' you basically do remedial stuff like laundry and dishes and clean gutters - which I can understand - it's no picnic, they shouldn't get privileges other folks going through boot camp don't get - but they also shouldn't be treated less than honorably or like prisoners! Fortunately I have a friend who was able to make some calls and I heard from a staff sergeant this week. She was very polite and said there are about 75 kids in a similar situation from this class and they only have 2 lawyers to draft up the paperwork for discharging. I asked about a medical waiver process and she said they can do that for like 'peanut allergies' but not usually for stuff as serious as this and that 'besides - I've talked with your son and he no longer wants to be here so we wouldn't go through that process anyways'. Well no shit he doesn't want to be there after the way he's being treated (apparently). These kids are all waiting 6-9 weeks in 'reception' because the Army can't get the paperwork done fast enough to get them home! Meanwhile - the soldiers there who have to oversee these kids - seem to hate / loathe them and treat them like shit (and this isn't just my son's take - I have physical evidence of this - if you stick with me). It's hard to get the whole story now because when he's allowed to make calls he's in a room with 300 other kids and there's no privacy and he's pretty emotional and is fearful of being overheard / talking freely. But these are good well-intentioned kids that for whatever reason can't serve their country. There's no need for the prisoner treatment! Think I'm joking? The week before last one kid from Fort Sill went AWOL and threw himself in front of a truck right outside the base. Now I'm not saying that's related to being held in 'reception' (probably not in fact) but word of that spreads fast and that also hit my son pretty hard and it maybe speaks to the culture at this particular base at this point in time? kswo.com/2026/09/14/soldier-… And why are taxpayers paying to house these kids for what amounts to the full duration of bootcamp - simply because you can't figure out how to out process them in a timely fashion? These people are being treated like shit and held like prisoners at an Army base for no reason other than 'we can't keep up with the paperwork'. But the real icing on the cake is that I finally got my first letter from him this week! And it looked like it had been run over by a truck or stepped on by a dirty boot. 😠😠😠 There's literally a muddy tire / boot print on the envelope. Nice. To quote Elon Musk - "Message received" Army. I feel you! (will upload that pic in a reply). This was no 'accident' like 'whoops I dropped the letter on the ground and whoops oh dear when I bent over to pick it up I ran over it with my mail truck'. This was a fucking message to his parents. From the Army. Do better Army. My son was once super proud to be going off to serve his country and now that pride is gone. I was once super proud to have my son serve in the Army and that pride is now gone. The boot stomping of a letter home is disgraceful behavior.