The United States Army

We got Thak's first paycheck from the contracting firm the other day. Horrible doesn't quite begin to describe it. Sure, it's better than what he was making at BMW, but that's not saying much. We needed it to be triple what he was making there, and it wasn't. He thought it was great until I informed him that it wasn't going to cover the bills, and the kids could pretty well forget about Christmas if this is all he's making. (That's not exactly true. I have pulled odds and ends together for presents for them. They will get a Christmas this year, just not a particularly memorable one, presents-wise anyway.) He was a little upset that I wasn't thrilled with the money he's making, but did see it my way.

He wanted to stick it out with this firm for a few years and get promoted and make more money, and whatnot. I don't have that kind of time. I'm done playing false motivation for jobs that pay crap. If he had this job when he first got out of the Army, maybe, but he didn't. Instead, he sunk us into a deep hole with his stupid job at BMW that he insisted on staying in for way longer than he should have, insisting that he wanted to make it work, when obviously it wasn't. So this time, I put my foot down. I told him to find a recruiter, and work on getting back to Active Duty, that it wasn't ok that he threw our future and our lifestyle away because he simply didn't want to be in the Army anymore, and that he would do as other soldiers do every day, and put his family before himself. He was pissed about that, but I really didn't care anymore. As of today, he had cooled down enough to actually look into it, find contact information, call a recruiting station, and begin taking those first steps toward getting back to Active Duty.

He'll stick with this firm for as long as it takes for a slot to come available for him, and then he will go back to Active Duty. The pay he's making now will sustain us after we move (because when we move, we'll get a really cheap house... trailer... apartment... grass hut...) and just play the waiting game. We have some idea of what it will take for him to go back to Active Duty, and it'll take some doing, paperwork wise, but it is definitely feasible if he doesn't give up on pushing the issue. You ever convince somebody to push an issue they don't want to push? I did. It's not easy.

Did we love the Army life? No. Not even a little bit. But, the Army is where our life is, and in six years, when he retires and collects his pension, after 20 years of service, he can try the private sector again. Now is not the time, and I refuse to put the kids through this anymore. We can't afford for them to do anything. We're always stressed. It's a shitty way to live, and they deserve better. The way I see it, with this contractor job, Thak is doing pretty much the same job he did in the Army, assigned to an Army unit, living in whatever shitty Army post town they send us to, and deploying on the Army's schedule. So what kind of sense does it make to do the exact same thing for a fraction of what you were getting paid to do it before? It makes no sense at all.

I'm happy that he's even taking steps toward it. I hope that he will have more news later this week. With luck, we will be back to our old life before 2012 is out.