Jarhead Online

A young Marine officer was severely wounded in the head by a grenade, but the only visible permanent injury was to both of his ears, which were amputated. Since his hearing wasn’t impaired he remained in the Marine Corps. Many years later he eventually rose to the rank of major general.

He was, however, very sensitive about his appearance. One day the general was interviewing three Marines, prospects for his headquarters staff.

The first was a captain, and it was a great interview. At the end of the interview the general asked him, “Do you notice anything different about me?”

The young officer answered, “Why, yes, Sir, I couldn’t help but notice that you have no ears.”

The general got very angry at his lack of tact and threw him out.

The second interview was with a Lieutenant, and he was even better. The general then asked him the same question, “Do you notice anything different about me?”

He replied sheepishly, “Well, Sir, you have no ears.”

The general, now really pissed, threw him out also. The third interview was with a Marine Gunnery Sergeant, an Engineer.

He was articulate, looked extremely sharp and seemed to know more than the two officers combined. The general wanted this guy, and went ahead with the same question, “Do you notice anything different about me?”

To his surprise the Gunny said, “Yes, Sir, you wear contact lenses.”

The general was very impressed and thought, what an incredibly observant SNCO, and he didn’t mention my ears. “And how do you know that I wear contacts?” the General asked.

“Well, Sir,” the Gunny replied, “it’s pretty hard to wear glasses with no fucking ears.”

First I would like to take a second and thank the Flyboy (my brother) for throwing up a quick post for me. It actually was pretty good because I am just about done with all my CC debt. By the time I get out of this beautiful place I might even be out of debt all togeher (Mortgage doesn’t count.)

No on to the good stuff. It only took me a week from the time I left to get from California to the place I will call home for the next 7 or so months. Things here could be worse I guess. I mean I have running water and a DFAC (chow hall) so I can’t complain too much. Most of our boys are living in small FOBs eating MRE’s all day.

Got myself a pretty good routine and with there only being 5 of us or so here from my command don’t have to deal with all the BS that comes with being around the HQ platoon. Basically I get up get some breakfast then do whatever I gotta do til lunch. After that its a quick catnap then off to the gym, shower and then dinner. After that I waste time doing whatever (reading/watching movies etc) then off to bed and do it all over again.

So just wanted to let you all know that I’m safe and bored (don’t need excitement in a war zone). Hope everyone has a great summer I’m sure it will be better than mine.

The Jarhead

Flyboy’s note: And everybody says Airmen have it too good! No worries though. We’re all fighting the same fight, and I’m glad to hear my bro is safe. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Once upon a time I was young and foolish and I ran up a lot of credit card debt. Nights out with the guys, car stereo, speakers, gas, food, you name it. The worst part is that I don’t have anything to show for it – not even the car stereo because I traded in that car for a newer, faster, shinier car. But that’s another story.

One of the fun things about becoming an NCO is the realization that not only do you have to start rating and leading young troops, but you actually become a mentor for them. I realized I needed to start leading by example. And slowly but surely I changed my ways.

Getting out of debt is easy – in principle

It’s not hard to get out of debt… at least the mechanics of it. Spend less than you earn, pay extra on your loans, don’t take on new debt, etc.

But the mental change and breaking the habits… that’s where it can be more difficult. It takes a lot of work and one little slip up can cost you months in interest payments.

So I came up with my own little plan and started chipping away at my credit card loans, and over the last couple years am almost finished with them all.

I wish there was a secret I could share, but the above methods are what I used. I guess the only thing I did that would be close to a secret is transfer my credit card balance to a zero percent balance transfer credit card. With these you need to open a new credit card and you can transfer your balance from another card to a 0% interest rate. It cost me 3% to transfer my balance, but at the old rate of 21%, I saved 18% interest. That was a HUGE blessing and saved me months of payments. Instead of over 20% of my monthly payment going straight to the credit card company and only 80% of my payment going to reduce the debt, I had 100% of the payment going to eliminate the credit card debt. I think it must have saved me at least $2000 (yeah, I had a lot of debt!).

So there is no magic bullet. Stop using your credit cards, spend only the money you have, and pay extra. If you have a lot of debt like I did, then it might take awhile. But it’s worth it. I sleep better at night and my credit score is improving. Not much more you can ask for!

P.S. The Jarhead is out of town for a few months, if you catch my meaning. He will try to pop his head in from time to time if he is able, but for now, I’ve agreed to drop by every so often and share some thoughts about the world. Send your positive thoughts out that way – those boys in the mountains need our support.

So I was checking out a favorite mil blogger site about military money when I saw this article: Military Members Have it Too Good and Whine Too Much.

All right, so before I even started reading it I’m getting hot. Who the hell is this guy, saying we have it too good? I mean the guy that runs the site is a vet. Turns out the entire article is a response to a comment left on his site that says military members are basically “undereducated, underpaid, whiny little bitches.”

OK, those were my words, but I didn’t have to stretch it too far to get there. The actual wording in the comments was that military members have it “TOO GOOD! So quit your whining!” The same commenter also said military members “get GREAT PAY and BENEFITS! Especially for active duty who have NO COLLLEGE DEGREE, and LITTLE OR NO EXPERIENCE.”

Wow. The commenter is some kind of doctor and he can’t even use spell check. He also goes through a 16 point list of military benefits that he obviously doesn’t understand.

So Ryan, the blogger over at Military Finance Network does a good job at ripping into this guy – listing his inaccuracies, providing facts and resources that basically make this dude look like a pretentious snob. I guess this doctor is in a higher class than us “uneducated, inexperienced, and overpaid” military members who protect his freedom of speech.

So go check out this article and drop a line of support in the comments. Start with this article explaining military compensation, then read the long comment that rips into military compensation. Then head over to read the response: Military Members Have it Too Good and Whine Too Much.

It’s a long article, but it is worth the time and will probably get your fired up.

After one if the busiest two months that I have had in the Marine Corps it is finally time for me to take a break.  I will soon be starting some well earned leave that will allow me to spend time with my family.  Hopefully I will be able to relax and just spend time with them all.  Soon after that it is time for me to head out and do what we Marines do.

It really is amazing how fast my time seems to be dropping from the top of the hourglass down to the bottom.  It will be April here in a just over 24 hours and that is a good thing for alot of Marines.  You see enlisted promotions happen either the 1st of the month or if you are a stellar performer and are head and shoulders above the rest you can be promoted meritoriously on the 2nd.

On that note I would like to put the links here for the Cpl and Sgt cutting scores and congratulate those Marines that have made the cut for April.

All right all I have gotten a few comments/questions about not having posted for a minute (or a couple of months).  So here I am back out letting everyone know what the hell is going on with your Jarhead.

As I posted a few months ago we were tapped to go to AssCrackisStan in May.  Well that is still in the plans and I have been doing all that I can to prepare not only myself but my Marines as well.

We did a nice little week long field op in Pendleton about a month and a half ago then I had to go to 29 Palms to prepare for the current field op the week after that.  I then went out to the rifle range to make sure that I was going to be able to drop the Taliban at 500 yards (I feel like I am cheating with an the scope on the M4).  After that I returned to 29 Palms where we have been for a month now.

The training that we have gotten up here is great and I am confident not only in myself and my Marines but in the leadership of the battalion as well.  I know that we are going to be successful in our mission.  I am currently just over a month from my deployment (advanced party) but I will make a more conscious effort to get on here and get some posts out.

SEMPER FI

A lot has happened in the past 6 weeks since my last post.  We were busy as hell at work during the first two weeks on december then my son came to town followed shortly by my parents, sister, and grandmother.   My in-laws came over Christmas Day.  I fried a turkey, cooked a ham and between me and the wife we made enough food to feed almost 20 people that day.  Things are finally starting to settle down now, almost everyone has gone home (got the son til Monday morn)and the  house is mostly put back together.  I go back to work tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to get back to some type a schedule for my postings.  Hope all of you had a great Holiday and Happy New Year.

It is getting close to the end of the month and all you young LCpls and Cpl know what that means.  It means the Corps has checked the list twice and as long as you were nice you may be getting promoted.  The Marine Corps has released the cutting scores for Corporals and Sergeants.  For those of you that didn’t make the cut this month continue orking and your composite score and you will make the grade.

A few weeks ago I was approached by Jeremiah from Devil’s Matchmaker Clothing about a new T-shirt line that is targeted at Marines.  I looked at their website and was impressed by their style.  Jeremiah was gracious enough to send me on of the T-shirts and Imust say that they are definately a good product.  Currently Devil’s Matchmaker offers three different shirts and they are all Marine.  I really like the fact that while they are directed towards Marines they are not the typical “Uncle Sam’s Miguided Children” and other motard shirts you see all the boots wearing around. These shirts have their own style and top-notch.

Josh is one of the owners of Devil’s Matchmaker Clothing and joined the Marine Corps in 2007 and was the inspiration for these brothers starting their company.  Along with designing a good product they also donate $1 to Marines helping Marines for every T-shirt that they sell.  So whether you are a Marine looking for a cool shirt or a family member that wants to get your Marine I ask that you please check these guys out .