Good to see you back and all is well, or better since you're able to be so proud.
Back in the day I used to manage a restaurant and I had a kid who worked for me tell me he was joining the Marines when he graduated from high school. I had dated a Marine and heard a little about how tough they were and of course they were the best branch, yada yada.
Anyway, this kid was quite the goof off and I told him he needed to prepare himself to be a Marine. I told him I was going to be tough on him at work to help him try to adjust his, attitude. For probably 3 months I gave the kid a hard time and always reminded him of his goal.
One of the first places he came when he got out of boot camp was to come see me. Wow, was he a changed boy, I mean man. He wanted to thank me for trying to help him prepare. He told me about how he had popped off with some comment and as a result his whole unit had to jog in place, in a sand trap, wearing 100 lbs of gear and holding their rifles overhead. This went on for quite some time apparently. I don't think that was the only time he caught hell, but he did say the whole time he was in that sand pit and his team was cussing him out, he wished he'd listened to me.
I hope when your boys finish their service they can join their family ranks of swapping stories, with no real bad stories to tell.
Ah yes... my son showed me the sand pit where he lived. LOL He did a lot of push-ups and running. My other son showed me his scuzz brush, which was nearly down to the nub. And the stories they told... My gosh, I nearly busted a gut laughing and equally burst with pride knowing my kids made it through.
My boys come from very loud households between immediate and step families to grandparents and so on. Yelling or being yelled at was never a problem. I was worried that my kids might start laughing when the smokey bear was toe to toe with them. You should have seen the men comparing gas chamber experiences. LOL It was the best entertainment of all.