Mermaids aren’t furry.
Mermaids aren’t furry.
93 is a pretty good run. Good for him.
The last time a question like this was asked, I said it was when I enlisted in the US Army on Sept 5th, 2001 instead of Sept 12th, 2001. But in reality I probably would’ve enlisted either way (I was drinking the kool-aid back then) and when I enlisted it was on something called the Delayed Entry Program; I still had to finish my senior year of high school and didn’t leave for Basic Training until June 2002.
The actual life-changing moment that came out of that was taking advantage of the Hometown Recruiting Assistance Program right after I completed AIT. It’s essentially a 2 week temporary duty to go back home wearing your fancy new uniform to convince all your old high school buddies to sign up and be cool like you. I took it, did a couple recruitment events, signed up no one, and just enjoyed some free vacation time. This was March 2003, just a couple days before we invaded Iraq.
When I graduated AIT (your actual job training after basic training) I got orders to report to Ft Hood. Another guy, Watt, got the same orders. We had gone through Basic and AIT together, had the exact same MOS. I took HRAP, he did not. At the time, there were 2 major units on Ft Hood: the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. Watt showed up at Ft Hood and was assigned to 4th ID. I showed up a couple weeks later and was told that 4th ID was all filled up, so I went to 1st Cav instead.
4th ID deployed to Iraq in 2003, 1st Cav didn’t deploy until 2004. Because units were basically on a “1 year deployed, 1 year back home, 1 year deployed, 1 year back home…” rhythm this meant I ended up getting stop-lossed instead of getting out of the Army in 2006 when my original 4 year enlistment was up. While I was extended, I was selected to receive retraining on newer, modern equipment instead of the old crap designed to fight the Soviets I was originally trained on. This new training, and some contacts I made while on my second deployment, led to me getting a job with a defense contractor doing the exact same thing after I eventually got out. That job was overseas, where I happened to meet my future wife. And even though I’m in a slightly different field of work now, I can still draw a straight line between getting that experience and contacts and how I ended up where I am now.
The alternative, if I hadn’t taken 2 weeks vacation in 2003, is that I most likely would have gotten out of the Army as scheduled in 2006 but without any training that was directly applicable to a civilian job and without the networking contacts to land an overseas contractor gig.
My mentor at work is back from a two week vacation. Looking forward to catching up with him and asking for training on some very specific tasks because I’m 99% certain he’s going to announce his retirement before the end of the year.
Also, looking forward to the North London Derby this weekend (just watching, not attending). International football doesn’t carry my interest at all, for some reason.
I think we’re safely past the point of having to give Trump and any of his views the benefit of the doubt.
On the other hand, Vance depicted men and boys as “suppressed”, saying 52 minutes in that “one of the weird things about elite society is it’s deeply uncomfortable with masculinity”.
Warming to the theme, Vance said: “This is one weird thing that conservatives don’t talk about enough … We don’t talk enough about the fact that traditional masculine traits are now actively suppressed from childhood all the way through adulthood.”
This is literally all you talk about, you fucking chuds.
I mainly did it for the free college (which I later dropped out of).
In Iraq. On guard duty. Go to the med station when I get off. Extracts two teeth, here’s an aspirin, 24 hours bed rest. Back on guard duty.
Ha, barely. The situation was closer to Roseanne than Full House, but I enjoyed it.
Also, true story, shortly after I moved out one of my younger brother’s friends moved into the guest room because of drama at home and our family gave him enough structure to straighten up and complete high school. It is exactly what would happen after my character got written out of the sitcom in season 4 and a beloved guest character got promoted to the regular cast…
Not a movie, but there was a period of time when my parents’ house had them living upstairs, my older brother, his wife, and their young son living in the converted basement, and me temporarily staying in a guest bedroom after I had just gotten out of the Army. And we all worked at the family pizza restaurant together.
It was the perfect TGIF sitcom scenario.
Know Nothing? No shit!
I’ve known Vance for more than a decade. I met JD at a political seminar in 2015.
/checks calendar
I was planning to join the military after high school. It was a 3 hour drive to the closest MEPS (military entrance processing station), so the local recruiters only made the trip out there once a week. I already had my date set when another guy dropped out, so my recruiter asked if I was interested in going a week earlier. I said absolutely, because I was dead et on being in the Army, so what difference did one more week make?
So that’s how I enlisted on Sept 5th, 2001…
The owner hurt the dog by walking it without a leash and not having enough control over it to keep it from running into traffic. It speaks to your good character that you feel guilt over what happened, but you are not responsible and should not beat yourself up over it.
They’re already very low. I hope it pays off for them in the long run, but FM25 sounds like it’s gonna be a mess.