Ken, I was Navy, so the level of duress and harassment we were subjected to was about 1/10 (or less!!) that of our USMC bretheren, but I still recall about a week or two into basic we were told to "call home". Once the first "Hello" was done I was done. The emotions kicked in, and I was a stinkin' basket case. Looking back I was totally OK, I had not been mis-treated, and everything was fine but the shock of being totally divorced from life as it had been, and totally on my own kicked in and became reality. Doing a tour of duty was probably one of the best things that happened to me, but those phone calls home are bordering on cruel & unusual punishment, especially for the mothers that receive the calls....