Explaining the Combat Engineer job to a worrying mother

[Springroll]

OKay, I did do a search and came up with nothing, so i need your help here, guys.

I have tried to explain to my mother the role of a combat engineer. It has been hard to do, needless to say.
As much "experience" my mother has had with the CF, she is obviously worried about her first born daughter going out there into the field, even though she knows it is my dream and I would do my best at it.

How did you guys explain your job to your mother's??
How did they react?
How about explaining it to your fathers??

Your help with this will make things a bit easier for me to explain to her.
She said the CFRC never put everything in their job descriptions(already sent her that, too).

Thanks a bunch guys!!
This means alot.

 

[canadianblue]

I said, hey mom, dad, I'm an adult now and am going to join the army. I never tried to soften up what I was going to do, and simply told the truth. They had a hard time at first, but their over it now.

 

[Springroll]

LOL...if only it was that simple with my mother.
I don't need her permission(I'm 27, married and have kids of my own) but she does like to know, in detail, what I am doing.
For example when I took my RCA course(Resident care attendant) she wanted to know details...so many details, it would sicken you(serious, it would!)

I guess it may be for the brag factor with her, too...but if I am able to accomodate her need for knowledge, then why not, right?

 

[Jarnhamar]

Tell your mom that part of your job will be to crawl out into a minefield on your stomach and stick a knife in the ground looking for big landmines.
Maybe mention that you'll be working with high explosives too.

Before giving her details that parents WILL pass on to anyone who listen to, which may or may not be correct, become an engineer first.
If she's curious now use the 'what they do' info you get from the dnd recruiting blurb

 

[Mineguy]

Dont get too phillisophical with her or it will be worse! Just tell her what youre gonna do for a career, why and do it...If she scares easy keep it to simple talk about the job. The thing that wills care them the most is talking about mines and explosives etc etc. Well if shes a cool mom who trusts you for what youre actually gonna be trained to do without freaking out too much thinking youre going straight to iraq soon as youre done you sign the line rent a movie like the english patient or saving private ryan and that shows engineers in action.

My mother always freaked out mildly from day one in some ways, even now out of the army as i clear mines for a living she still freaks, but i just tell her the same and she calms down, ive been trained well and am with good people mom, thats why myself and all my guys come home every afternoon alive

The whole time i was in the army as an engineer, bosnia x 3, and after the army as a civilian, albania, kosovo, sudan x 3, iraq, and all over africa she always was freaked its natural thinking something will happen to you in all these strange places or in this dangerous sounding job. I dont have kids but i guess since they gave birth to you, youre their little darling etc etc forever, I think for them but the best thing you can tell them is that youll be well trained and be with good people (like in your case now) and after that youre well trained and still with good people and you can tackle anything together. That will always be reassuring for them.

My 2 cents worth.

 

[Springroll]

THANK YOU!!!

Saving Private Ryan is her favorite movie, and I had never thought about getting her to watch it again....that makes all of this alot easier for me then. ;D

My mom is very cool, and easy going, but likes to know exactly whats going on...I am the only child of hers that has kids, or as she called them, Her "grandies" ... ;D

Thank you..I will tell her to watch the movie, yet again!! lol 

 

[Mineguy]

You can see Engineers at work (and engineer related tasks or subjects) in the following movies:

A Bridge too far - bridging, rafting etc... (70s)
Saving PR- Putting the bangalore torpedo under the barbed wire(assualt demolitions-obstacle clearing), and slapping the greasy socks on the tanks roadwheels...
The bridge at Remagen- Bridging (70s)
Kelly heros- Bridging and Mines (70s)
The English patient-EOD, boobytrap and mine clearance
Behind enemy lines- LandMine scenes 
Too late the hero- assualt demolitions (60s)
The big red one-assault demolitions (70s)
Bridge on the river kwai-(60s)

Etc etc...

 

[Springroll]

Thank you Lurking Kuna....

I think my mother has a few of those too.

I appreciate it  ;D

Chimo!

 

[SprCForr]

Danger UXO! A great British series, is another good one.

I think my Mom didn't grasp what I did for almost 18 years. This was despite Dad (Korean Vet) and myself explaining it to her on numerous occasions. We suspected that all she ever heard was... blah,blah... blah,blah.. .peacekeeping... blah,blah... The other explanation was maybe knowing too much was too terrifying. I dunno.

Just be gentle.

 

[aesop081]

THE TORCH

The sapper is a dark, sombre man who looks where he is threading and talks most of the time of box girders and coduit pipes.  He is a very essential part of the army, and is gloomingly aware of it.

His life is a misery: He is oblidged to work hard incessantly, both in and out of action.  He is "deloussing" mines and blowing wire and demolishing bridges and repairing others, sometimes the ones he has at some earlier stage himself demolished (enough to sour anyone), fixing roads and performing a hundred other hazardous and somewhat energetic chores.

Out of battle there is no respite.  In a quiet area, there are always roads for him to repair or an airfield for him to build.  His bulldozers are never quiet, and on top of everything he will find that division wants a handball court built, or a concrete floor put in the tents or a new drainage system put in to baffle the anopheles.

This in all has a depressing effect on the engineer.  it tends to make him jaundiced towards his fellow man.  He suspects that a hearty greeting is the forerunner of a request for two bags of cement or that an inquiry into his health is to ease the blow of asking for a work party.

So the sapper retires into himself, trusting only sappers. That is why, i think, they are so gregarious, it is unusual to see a lone sapper, unless he is a man of inflexible will.  As a rule they beleive in strenght in numbers.

They seek sanctuary from other units, generaly guarding themselves with a strip of bad road, or a barbed wire fence or a maze of bulldozer tracks.  They hide their stores from prying eyes, which might be seeking the odd sheet of galvanized iron or a sheet of plywood.  The sapper is not susceptible to flattery.  He does not blush when told how wonderful his explosives are; he does not turn away shyly when informed he lays a pretty minefield.

It is impossible to win his hear that way.  He knows there is no glamour in his job; no breathtaking activity or glory.  He knows that he is the drudgery of the army, the scullery work, the janitor's job.

But he has  satisfaction -  he knows that in every operation, in every sphere of war, the army leans on him.

 

[Springroll]

THE TORCH

But he has   satisfaction -   he knows that in every operation, in every sphere of war, the army leans on him.

Thank you for that aesop..I am going to copy tal, of that and send it to my mother.

She will understand that for sure!

Thank you again....from my heart!