Iraq War Marines are anxious of their kids joining the military

Today, when more than 300 second lieutenants graduate from the intensive training known as The Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, Aaron and Jennifer Cunningham will beam from the audience as their only son, Mason, takes his next step in becoming a Marine Corps officer.

But last month, on the day after Veterans Day, their feelings were more complicated when Jennifer’s phone lit up with her son’s number.

Retired Marine Col. Aaron Cunningham and his wife of 26 years and five deployments knew the news they were about to receive would impact the family’s future in such a profound way that only a fraction of American families can understand.

This was the day that junior commissioned officers would learn their “military occupational specialty”—whether they will be serving the Corps from, say, an office or an air station or the front lines of a battlefield. As a career Marine officer, Aaron Cunningham said he was careful not to influence his son’s decisions to join the military, pick a branch, or choose a specialty—especially infantry. Like his dad.