out numbered never out gunned

Summer 2002, shortly after an Army briefing on “land mine awareness” in Afghanistan, I realized that I should be home taking care of my new daughter. She needed me more than Uncle Sam. Apparently, there were a lot of land mines in Afghanistan. Now keep in mind this was about a year after 9/11 (before the base I was stationed at had a Chili’s and massage parlors and shit.. it was unreal).

So I got back to the states, my commander started talking about send me directly to Iraq and it was about that time I decided to get the hell out of the military. The military gave me a very good start on my life and career, but I must admit I wasn’t completely prepared for civilian life. I thought some huge company would pay me a lot of money and take care of me. The opposite was true. Murphy’s law kicked in and everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

I went into debt to move my family to another state, I didn’t make enough money to pay for the debt or my wife’s medical bills once she got hospitalized, and I had no vacation time as a new hire to take care of my daughter while her mother recovered from surgery. When I went to the company for some help, they told me there was nothing they could do that would not violate their policy. The company policy for taking care of employees had an “LOL clause”. It states in fine print, “the joke is on you.”

I was on my own in another state with no family, a sick wife, a new daughter and an old military buddy. I don’t blame the company for my mistakes.. my first mistake was thinking that I could rely on any organization that didn’t own me to take care of me. Success favors the prepared.. I was not prepared.

I got an application for Domino Pizza and filled it out. Before I submitted the application for my second job, it occurred to me that there must be a better way than surviving on tips from my neighbors. I started a 6 year war path to financial independence. This site is apart of that war path. *got a better job but never regained my trust of companies i don’t own. u and i have to do for you and i.