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Parenting
Littledeer84
member
As seen on FB
Littledeer84
member
in Parenting
This message was posted on the Holiday Inn Express FB page (I saw it because a friend of mine commented on it):
" I am a mother of a 17 year old Army guy!..I live in Hastings, Nebraska. My son is in Lincoln Nebraska which is 2 hours east of here!. We are in a blizzard warning across most of the state. My son had stayed at your hotel for drill over the weekend. I called the Lincoln Hotel and asked if I could check him back in because of the blizzard. They BLUNTLY told me NO.......we have a policy on age. I said excuse me but there is a blizzard and the interstate is CLOSED. Sorry Ma'am that is our policy....I was BEYOND speechless. My son is old enough to fight for your freedom and is denied a room?...We got in our car to make the journey to get him only to find we couldnt make it.....My daughter found him a hotel that was more the generous to give him a room....I think under the circumstance, there would have been no harm in you renting him a room. A service man, who had just checked out!..I will be putting the word out on how your help treated me and the armed service....."
I think it is awful that he was not allowed a room. If this is what really happend it is awful and the hotel should apologize and try to make it right. But people are losing their shizz on the fb page! This comment had 800+ replies when I looked last, and most of them were people saying they would never use Holiday Inn Express again!!!!! Eleventy!!!!!!!
I guess I dont get the outrage...I am thinking that some front desk clerk made a bad judgement call - but does that mean the whole chain should be boycotted? The fake outrage is so annoying to me.
What does parenting think? If you want to take a look, check out the "Post by others" on their fb page.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: As seen on FB
I agree
Please educate me:
How can a 17 year old be in the army? Was this ROTC?
I understand policy. But I tend to think rules need to be stretched in a blizzard. Bad call by the desk clerk or whoever ultimately made the call. But I'm pretty sure Holiday Inn is a chain of independent franchises.
The same parents would have been outraged and suing the chain if they had rented to a 17 year old without the parent's consent. And she could have been his pimp, its not like they can check ID over the phone. I am team hotel. Seriously, someone older who was with him for the drill weekend should have checked him in for a room.
"We like nothing better than buffing our Zygoma. And imagining a horny time traveling long overcoat purple scarf wearing super sleuth nordic legend fuck fantasy. Get to work on that, internet." Benedict Cumberbatch
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The law is 17 to join the US Armed Forces with parental consent. Delayed Entry Program, I believe. They can participate in local, military related events, but not Basic Training (Boot Camp).
Yeah, I think they could have let him stay, assuming they had vacancy. If that was the case, the should apologize, and try to make up for it. But it is all the fake outrage that gets to me. Do these people commenting on this topic never have a lapse in judgement?
Did they get on the road again today? That storm really snuck up on us! Hope they have safe travels.
Not much I guess. All I had heard was 1-2 inches with gusty winds. But you are right, I didnt not watch the news much...tough week.
"We like nothing better than buffing our Zygoma. And imagining a horny time traveling long overcoat purple scarf wearing super sleuth nordic legend fuck fantasy. Get to work on that, internet." Benedict Cumberbatch
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I know, right? Horrible people. What does that have to do with anything, except letting everyone know you are raciest?
I agree that policy is policy and while an exception would have been nice, sometimes the people dealing with these situations don't have any authority.
Also, I hate the outrage when all details aren't even known! Maybe they were full, maybe they didn't even know he was coming back from a military training. We only have an outraged mom's take on the situation.
I think there is not enough information to make a good call on what happened.
1. He could have checked out the night before using express checkout, then realizing the severity of the storm asked his mom to call and make another reservation on his way to work. This is something that I might do if I know my mom is available and doesnt mind fielding phone calls for me while in formation.
2. Did he talk to his 1st Shirt? I have released airmen early (and know the army here has done the same thing) when anticipating poor weather so they can get home safe and sound.
3. Did he show his Military ID at the Holiday Express? Many times, your ID card and a set of orders overrides the minimum age for things like this. It also works fro rental cars.
13 yr old boy with ASD, ADHD and PICA, 11 yr old boy, 3 yr old Girl, & baby Girl.
I wanted to comment on this because I had not only commented on the original thread but I was there at the very hotel this happened at.
When everything started blowing up I was very disappointed in the mother for "pointing" out that her son was in the military. As if the fact that a 17 year old was "shunned" into the cold blizzard wasn't bad enough she had to pull out the patriotic sympathy card.
My husband is a combat veteran serving over 5 years in the Active Duty Army and sustaining severe injuries. I am so proud of him for what he's accomplished but one thing him and I (and several of our friends) agree on is that military or not...no one is entitled to "special treatment" just because of their job. Don't get me wrong I enjoy buying soldiers dinners or thanking them when I can but to expect such entitlements when you're not even deploy-able such as this child it is embarrassing.
Because of my stance on this I was threatened with assault and told my husband needs to "bash" my skull in for "thinking" in such a way.
Whatever.
The point is we were suppose to leave Lincoln around 10 am. As soon as we got on the interstate at exit 399 we found that it was closed at 395 to york. We pulled off and called our previous hotel and they had already sold our room. We were left panicking trying in any way possible to find a room. Finally calling the HIE they had ONE room available for $98. It was a king. We had to book it over the phone with my credit card to ensure we got the "first come first serve" room. All other rooms were booked by reservation (the entire first floor was booked by a high school basket ball team that was stranded there for state tournaments) Our official check in time was 10:45.
When the sh**storm happened on FB I was already headed down to the front desk for extra blankets and the front desk clerk was trying to figure out what was going on. I went up and asked if she was ok and she stated that some people had started calling her about what was going on in FB world and she had NO idea what they were talking about. I gave her a quick rundown and she said that she came on in the late evening and just started addressing the phone calls with "no comment."
The next morning the woman that had checked us in the previous day was there to check us out (their check out time is 11am) She asked me what happened last night and I explained what the mother had said. She was dumbfounded as they had NO record of this child staying in their hotel and their video surveillance showed no such altercation as explained by the boys mother.
During the comment thread the boys mother gave MY hotels address but a different hotels phone number. The child also did not follow his chain of command which is the NUMBER ONE thing taught to new soldiers. Instead he called his mommy to come rescue him. He admitted ON the thread that his CO was out on vacation and that he wasn't going to "bother" his NCO over a "stupid hotel room".
As the conversation continued other Active duty soldiers were livid that this boys mother found the need to mention that he was in the military and did not follow proper protocol. One in specific went to dig in the mothers FB back history and it started coming out that she was fishing for a free hotel room and so forth.
Around 1230 am after being confronted for (a) Ignoring HIE's request to contact them so they could civilly resolve this (she demanded they hash it out in public). (b) using her son's military stance in her own favor and (c) trying to get 15 minutes of fame, the woman ended up deleting the thread.
The best comment in the entire thread was my friend Bruce saying, "Oh my god maybe you should *** out mother nature for making me work outside and it's cold and rainy! I'm a soldier! Or you should boycott the government because of it's policy that he can't even vote for the government he's protecting. OY and sue all the countries clubs because he can't drink since he's only 21!"
Also for those wondering he was part of a local guard group. The NCO that released the boys is at fault for a lapse in judgement as well as this child. Formation typically is at 6 am. The interstate was closed before 10 AM and the mother didn't post her rant until 4pm. That means the boys were released with knowledge the interstate and surrounding HWY's were closed.
The military was the one that checked them in. But they were the ones that neglected to recheck them in. Even if they could have there was no vacancy. When this became known the child er..."soldier" had the responsibility to call his NCO and inform him that he couldn't make it home safely so the military could provide him with shelter. He willing fully did not make contact.
HIE was not at fault for this situation.
Things like this are the bane of FBs existence. I really feel the need to deactivate my account often, because I see this crap happen all too often.
I did. It was horrible. I was the female that everyone was freaking out on early in the thread. My friend Eric was the other person verbally threatened in the beginning. I was never more ashamed of the people that claimed my husband fought for them.
The thing that we've learned is the ONLY soldier that "act" the way this boy and his family did (entitled spoilt brats) are the "newborns" of the military. This kid's uniform isn't even his...it's on loan until he finishes AIT. He wasn't defending any freedoms...hell his "drills" are an "overrated PE class". He can't even train for his job because technically, by military standards, he didn't even have a job since he hasn't gone through AIT.
It's when a soldier becomes jaded by war that they become humbled and less entitled. When the families focus on saving their soldier's life from PTSD or reintegrating them back into Western Culture. When the last thing that is on our mind is a discount or title. All we want is to, just for a moment, forget that they are soldiers and all we want back is the bright eyed innocent green babies that we had before they left for war.
Normally I'd ignore things on FB like this (we use it only to keep in contact with close friends and family) but when I saw how outrageous her claims where when I was RIGHT THERE (I have the receipts to prove it) I couldn't just stand by when they took us in and made every effort to make our stay wonderful. The girl was accused of doing this was so sweet and kind I just had to say something even if it meant pissing everyone off.