I am not sure what to say. gfgbro joined the army when my parents finally had enough and said he had to go live on what he earned instead of living with them, ruining anything with moving parts when he used/borrowed it, taking tools that were my grandfathers (both sides) and NEVER returning them, being all around abusive, etc.... He honestly believed for more than a decade that he got thrown out of the house because he left some tools out when he wnet to pick up a car part = for all of twenty minutes. In reality, he had been having screaming matches with my parents (him screaming, sometimes my dad bellowing, but usually just gfgbro), ramped his abuse of me up and tore up everything in the house, plus sleeping nude in the family room while watching soft porn - talk about inappropriate!)
The army did change a lot about him. It also introduced him to German beer, courtesy of 18 mos in Germany. He got very rigid, esp about cleaning and putting things away, but only in areas others saw. There were many times after he came back that he would pay me to clean his bathroom because it was so hideous and mom was on the warpath. I usually needed gloves and a face mask - he was gross in there. I would bleach the walls even. According to my mom, it did not increase his drinking, he drank less because the german beer is so much heavier. In reality, it ramped his alcoholism up HUGELY.
It may be good for him, but given his diagnosis's, history, etc... and not graduating HS, well, he doesn't have much chance. But there are unethical recruiters out there who will take anyone and then let boot camp weed them out. Or they get weeded when they go for the initial physical and testing to get in to boot camp. That happened to a friend who was joining the Navy. She came back home 2 days later because they refused her because medical issues. Does he realize that he will not only serve his original commitment, but will also be in the "inactive reserves" once his tour is over? back when gfgbro got out it was 5 yrs where they could call you back at any time and you HAD to go for however long they wanted you. He was out a year or so before desert storm or another of the conflicts in that area (I am really bad at military history, sorry) and an horrible recruiter actually called and told me taht he was going to the front lines in a week - and if he didn't show up at the recruiter's office they would charge him and keep him in jail if he survived the front line, possibly for years.
My father started looking for places to send him because no way was he going to let someone set his child up that way. NOT taht he had a problem wtih gfgbro being called up, but not to be purposely set up to die. I finally reached some muckety muck in the Army and asked if this was true, that someone in the local office was supposed to call my bro up and send him to the front lines - he was a mechanic and a dang good one with several awards for his work while in the service. They were surprised and said that at that time, NO oen in the inactive reserves was called up unless they had super specialized knowledge in an area that was critically short, like trauma docs and nuclear experts. They then asked for the local man's name, and if we haad the date/time of the calls (there were about ten, all abusive and cruel - including one where he described what a machine gun would do in terms that would fit CSI) and if we knew of others he had threatened this way. I asked a few people and called back with some other names. We not only got a formal written apology from the man, he got a dishonorable discharge for these acts of cruelty. I just wanted my bro to be safe, and this guy to leave him alone.
I really doubt that thank you would follow through, esp if he is told the PT requirements and other things that they ahve to endure. I am sorry that this is worrying you. It is a tough thing to have a child want to do, esp when that child is as against all authority and would likely end up doing something with serious consequences.