what else would they do? pretend you dont exist?

i mean... they did a pretty good job at that when they hucked OP into a military school in a different country and only visited OP occasionally. since writing a cheque for boarding school take very little effort, especially if their well off enough (as hinted by OP), so it wouldn't even be a noticeable dent in their bank statements.

i'm sure if OP didn't go into his military career and right after military school he just fell back into his old ways his parents would continue trying to just forget about him but with the added "bonus" of not having to pay for boarding school. but that's only speculation.

yes, he "straightened out" but i feel like it was out of spite to his parents. OP doesn't need to form any relationship with people who abandoned him at 15.