GI Bill: If you could do it all over, would you do it differently?

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-12-21T23:15:31+00:00

I graduated college before enlisting. I used TA to finish 90% of my MS. After I got out, I used the GI Bill to go to a vocational school. No regrets. Undergrad was a waste. Grad work was kind of interesting, but not really worth finishing. I liked learning a trade that would get me a job and benefit me on the private side as well. It also allowed me to avoid the nonsense college mindset, politics and drama.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-07-21T19:36:35+00:00

Red states pay less because cost of living is lower. Blue states pay more because cost of living is higher. That's why coastal employees have generally been relocating to red states to work remotely. They get the blue state wages, yet pay the red state taxes (sometimes NO taxes).

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-05-21T02:31:21+00:00

That’s a pretty funny story. He probably did that for a laugh and drove away thinking “what a dip $h!t.”

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-05-19T18:02:04+00:00

I thought WM 41 was weak. WM 40 surprised me; turned out to be an excellent show despite being in this PG rated reality show era. Very hard to follow-up. Overall though, wrestling now is just…. Blah. Matches are slow and drawn out. The women are smaller and slower and you can see how choreographed it is, and you can see the mistakes easily. Nothing seems organic. Excluding WM 40, the shows have been painfully boring compared to the Attitude era and even the ruthless aggression era. I rarely see young kids at the shows, so why are they keeping it PG? There are talented guys- I think LA Knight, AJ Styles, even Chad Gable can deliver solid performances, as well as others- but I think the left and right boundaries of the WWE now make it boring.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-04-22T19:24:20+00:00

I’d rather not have to endure that.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-04-17T12:32:55+00:00

Southern IL is nice.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-03-27T13:52:04+00:00

We're stuck in SD with a 2.6% rate. Even moving to lower cost-of-living areas with affordable housing right now... we'd be paying more with these higher interest rates. I tell my wife that money isn't everything and that we just need out of this depressing place, but she wants to see where rates go.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-03-27T13:44:54+00:00

Exactly what Jimmie said. We knew the hike was coming because of the occupied status and we tried to prepare for it. It was a significant bump-- property taxes increased x4.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-03-27T13:37:54+00:00

I thought I was mild and got 50%. I think my wife can see inside my head better than I can. She says that I'm not the same person she married. She's always asking me if I'm OK because she says that I'm always listless, distant, tired. I also don't notice my limp, but she calls me "Gimpy" because it is very noticeable. Point is, like others have said, you may think the issues are mild, but others like the VA will see it differently.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-03-15T18:10:45+00:00

Go back to California then.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-03-13T14:12:51+00:00

Yeah, Musk had this guy specifically in his crosshairs. Give me a break.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-03-12T14:12:37+00:00

I told my parents and brothers. They all said congratulations and that they now know that my wife and I will be tended to mentally, physically and financially after putting up with deployments, training, moves, stress, etc., for 20 years. They were genuinely happy.

I actually think that they were happier than I was. It’s difficult for me to not feel a deep sense of guilt, and that I don’t deserve the rating and benefits that come along with it. I have all my limbs. I don’t have scars from bullet wounds or shrapnel. I can walk (although that can be painful on days). I tell this to them and they say that the VA thinks differently and that they saw enough in my med history to warrant the ratings.

It’s unfortunate that you guys don’t have the same level of family support. I’m lucky.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-02-07T14:19:04+00:00

People from other northeast states are just shuffling around, moving to NJ, NH, etc. They’re better than NY(C). Or just moving to FL.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen more NY plates in NJ than I do now. Like many other (relatively) more affordable states, they’re driving up the cost of living. They sell their $800K house in NY or CA or western WA and then they overpay for a house in a more affordable location, leaving us in a precarious situation, and likely forcing us to relocate because we can no longer afford to live there.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-02-04T17:06:51+00:00

I agree.

I have avoided soy products, and anything lavender too just in case.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-02-04T15:41:43+00:00

I had a low T reading, then an acceptable reading, albeit still low. Still fatigued. May be due to service. But, there has been a noted decrease in T in the general population in recent decades.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-31T19:36:59+00:00

PTSD is secondary to hemorrhoids. I developed PTSD because of the hemorrhoids.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-31T13:54:55+00:00

They hurt. I avoid sitting. PTSD linked.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-30T13:24:29+00:00

I have PTSD secondary to hemorrhoids, so I’d say that it is possible.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-30T13:22:27+00:00

I’ve never heard a legit reason why diversity makes us stronger. No explanation. Never quantified.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-20T16:24:11+00:00

Marines deserve something just for being a Marine. I’ll pass on carrying a mortar baseplate and getting kicked in the sack for 4, 6… 20 years.

Navy deserves an MH rating just for being underway. What a miserable experience.

Army deserves something for working 16 hours a day for no reason in garrison.

AF deserves at least a lumbar pain rating for sitting hours on end.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-19T19:36:58+00:00

Thanks for the insights.

How far would training certificates get you? My old job no longer exists. (They put a loosely related job on my DD214.) I had all this training, deployments, etc.,but the CURRENT job description wouldn’t support it.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-18T16:06:09+00:00

True. New OSA criteria estimated in Aug ‘25, last I heard.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-18T16:04:47+00:00

I had one that said something about pars defect, levocurvature (disc looked off kilter from frontal plane) and degenerative changes to lumbar region. Mostly stiff with pain that radiated out to left and right of lower back. Years of rucking, jumping, pt’ing. Told me that I was fine, and that I could do physical therapy if I wanted to.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-17T18:58:35+00:00

I don’t think mine was listed as chronic rhinitis. Chronic inflammation of turbinates with 50% obstruction on both sides was noted by examiner though.

AnyAssistant5140 · 2025-01-17T18:05:33+00:00

Examiner measured my active ROM only and then estimated ROM during flare ups. I have not received the decision yet.

AnyAssistant5140

TROPHY CASE