Good Morning
Happy Rowan Celtic Tree Month
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From your posts, I would expect you to like Elizabeth Dole. Interesting how you said she would have gotten your vote instead of her husband.
I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday.
My parents tried once to buy a house while my dad was active duty. They lost money on the house when my dad was transferred, and they had to sell.
I am impressed that your wife not only had a job, but a career while you were enlisted. How did she manage a career in the American Red Cross while supporting your career in the Navy?
It is amazing how much you have in common with former Senator Dole.
"Military chooses when to transfer a person."
When "mission requirements" prevail. However, Navy Detailers are usually far more cooperative about transfer time frames, especially when it comes to military families. They do their best to work within school year transfers, but sometimes it just can't happen that way.
The biggest factor in transfer time is the military members own career management, shopping for orders that meet time frame requirements, balancing assignments with family. I always look at the report date when helping junior military members select orders, helping them time their transfers to their best advantage. If the member wants a particular set of orders, due to position or location, I'll call the command and attempt to negotiate a different report date to accomodate both the command and the member. In my career I've had a few of those orders when it was jump and run...but usually I've had pretty good luck in managing my orders and follow-on orders. I've also passed over some choice orders rather than put undue stress on my family.
"While in the service, how in the world did you make enough money to buy a ranch and land and expect to retire there when there was over 4 years left of service? Tom, the more I read your posts, the more I am convinced that you are not a regular enlisted man. So who are you really?"
Galadrial...I came into the military later in life due to some special skills the Navy was interested in, after having established myself in a career in government law enforcement. I bought stocks before coming into the military, and at that time, Haliburton stock was known as a "Penny Stock", an inexpensive stock. I bought in several companies, not just Haliburton. Some succeeded, some didn't, thus goes the stock market. Even as an agent, I didn't make oodles of money, so my investments were relatively small in comparison. I hung onto them, even when times were tough, because they were an investment in the future, my children's future.The same with the house and land. I was at the right place at the right time, and bought low, riding on the equity. I've bought and sold several houses while in military service, making a profit on all of them. I've done it by simple money and credit management over the course of my career. It also helped that my wife, exwife, had a reasonably well paying career with the American Red Cross and later the National Guard Bureau. My children certainly weren't indulged, but they had the necessities, nice clothes, and Barbies all over the damned house.
Maybe I'm not the usual "regular enlisted man", lol, but I am in the Navy and set to retire in about 135 days, not that I'm counting or anything. Even though I'll have "only" twenty years of active military service, I'll retire with well over thirty years of government service for pay purposes.
Military chooses when to transfer a person. And when being transferred out of military housing, we left when they told us to.
My dad was allowed to reject an assignment...but only 3 times...like when he was getting transferred to Governor's Island, he rejected it because he did not want me to ride a fary (sp?) every day to school, because girls got raped, and he wanted to protect me. So he accepted the assignment in Cleveland.
While in the service, how in the world did you make enough money to buy a ranch and land and expect to retire there when there was over 4 years left of service? We were transferred ever 2 to 4 years. 4 years was the very maximum.
Tom, the more I read your posts, the more I am convinced that you are not a regular enlisted man.
So who are you really?
No one knows better than us what leaving is like.
The hardest part was leaving before school ended. That really sucked. For some reason, we did not get transferred when school was out.
We have had to give up dogs in transfers.
We had a Beagle when we lived in New Jersey. Then we were transferred to Italy, and could not take the dog with us, so my aunt took care of the dog for 2 years.
I know one day it will be that way with Rusty as he is already over 9 years old. Our youngest was born some time around May (approx) of 2001.
I miss my cat, Smokey Joe.
Admittedly, I love dogs as well, but I could not imagine life without the 3 cats.
Growing up, we had dogs. On the base in Italy, they used dogs to help protect the base.
I prefer cats to dogs. Cats have some character and personality. Dogs are...well...just dogs.
There's a pup in my cup!
AAACCCKKK!
This thread is a continuation from
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=626&pst=593474&archival=&posts=79
