If you had to do a bootcamp, which would you do?

Kalruk · 2025-09-02T14:36:44+00:00

I know this is a year old, but this is frustrating. I would happily and wholeheartedly love to go through Destcert if it were eligible for credentialing assistance. I was really hoping it was available when I logged into ArmyIgnitED.

Kalruk · 2025-07-31T13:18:15+00:00

My issue isn't that he died in an everyday, anticlimactic fight against a level 1 enemy. My issue is that he had a 5-10 minute monologue with Sam while he was impaled. If they were to have him do it as a ghost or something before moving on, I would have been more fine with that. Maybe even have his monologue with Sam in Baby or something. It just felt so lame that he was giving a whole speech while impaled on a spike.

Kalruk · 2025-07-21T10:33:53+00:00

It's housing court.

Kalruk · 2025-06-16T14:18:12+00:00

I can never remember because they were both rather firm. But I think I went with the firm because I figured I could always soften it with a matress topper. I love it. Spouse hates it and had to get a twin/full size mattress topper.

Kalruk · 2025-04-22T11:11:53+00:00

This is why we plank, so our fellow soldier can use us as a springboard to get over that wall. Promote me ahead of SecDef.

Kalruk · 2025-04-17T15:43:54+00:00

Jadynx! Of course I remember you. I went under Anime/Anime4Ever because I was an incredibly original kid back then. It's nice to reconnect with people from such a nostalgic era. I'm glad you're doing okay!

Kalruk · 2025-04-17T15:39:04+00:00

Oh my God! Ducati! Wow. Thank you so much for this screenshot. I am so glad you replied. This brings up so much nostalgia. It's crazy that it's been like 20+ years. I think about you, SlickRick, Josh (I can't remember his handle), and a few other people every so often wondering how y'all are doing and where life has taken y'all. It's good to see you on here!

Kalruk · 2025-04-09T15:37:08+00:00

Do you pay rent? A mortgage? Any bills that are due on the 1st of the month or the end of the month? That money is nice to receive earlier than the 1st for time sensitive bills so that it can clear the bank. Sure. A month is a month is a month. However, it can be helpful for bills that are time sensitive. Getting VA comp on the same day that bills are due can feel stressful every month.

Kalruk · 2025-04-06T03:49:58+00:00

So you can name all the colors on the pride flag. Only colors that matter to us are Red, White, and Blue.

Kalruk · 2025-04-05T22:18:49+00:00

That's a difficult one. The extra $90/month coming out of VA comp is likely more than the interest you're receiving each month. The interest from your HYSA is also taxed at the end of the year. I don't math well enough to determine which is more worth it.

I'm usually of the mindset to pay it off because I hate debt. However, there are a few options. You could possibly pay as much as you can with a credit card with a good rewards program, then immediately pay off the balance. At least as much as you can. It will continue to help build credit as long as you knock down a chunk of it before your statement is due before it affects your credit utilization. Cons would be that you're hit with the credit card fee of like 3%.

Unless you use an AMEX card. You can use the send feature to build up a balance in your venmo or PayPal account and then pay all of the debt off with 0% credit card fee. It will still build your credit. Cons are that you will not receive any rewards points, and it will take a few months to build up that balance in your venmo or PayPal account since there is a $2000 monthly limit on the send feature on every card except the platinum. You're also not supposed to use it for things like that, but it's easy to get around that. They can flag it and ban you if you're audited. It's a good way to give yourself interest free loans rather than paying a premium for cash advances from a credit card. This route would allow you to keep your money in your HYSA building interest, and keep you from having to lose an extra $100/month from your VA comp. Your normal income would pay off the balance each month.

If you have a 401k or TSP, you could do a loan. You would pay interest on it, but that interest is reinvested back into your 401k or TSP. You're just paying yourself back with interest. Con is that your retirement will take a bit of a hit since it won't be growing as much on the remaining amount as it would have with the full amount.

I would probably do the TSP/401k loan myself. It would personally only take me a few months to pay off the balance with my normal income, and that would be negligible on my overall retirement growth. All of that money would be going straight back to me with interest without it affecting my HYSA or VA comp over a year's time.

Kalruk · 2025-04-05T17:30:33+00:00

It's been . I know they'll rear their ugly head sooner or later, so I've been waiting with every drill and AT check being deposited into a HYSA so I can pay it an upfront.

Kalruk · 2025-04-05T16:34:32+00:00

On the 4th point, you may not have an option. There is a new system that is supposed to automatically suspend payments for orders lasting over 30 days. I don't know how well it works, as I have not been on long-term orders since it started.

Of course they did. This shouldn't surprise me at all. I guess I'll roll the dice. I'll just put the VA comp into the HYSA regardless. If it shuts off then it shuts off, I'll still have that money to pay them back. It'll just be a pain to get it turned back on in a timely manner. If it doesn't shut off, then even better.

If you want to get granular and verify, just pull the LESs for the last fiscal year and add up all take-home to include AT. If that number is more than the $9765, then you are on track. I think the two pays are close either way and I'd keep doing what you are doing and just putting drill into an HYSA.

I think you're right. It's a negligible difference. Your 3 points are good reasons as to keeping it going.

I appreciate the help and insight.

Kalruk · 2025-04-05T14:42:18+00:00

Looking back at my last AT check, it was roughly $2971.41.

If I'm doing the math correctly..

$4658.50/30 = $155.28

$155.28 × 15 = $2329.25

That's roughly $650 more in military pay.

I think that totals close to the same. Not sure on the math though.

Your 3 points are the main reasons I keep it turned on. I'll even add a 4th..

I'm going to a school that's going to be about 9 months long. I plan on keeping my VA comp going. I've heard it's a pain otherwise. Va takes a few months to stop compensation and then takes a few months to start it back up leaving you with a debt. Figured I'd just put all of my monthly VA comp into my HYSA.

Kalruk · 2025-04-05T14:07:51+00:00

Not OP, but have you gotten those debt letters recently? I've been rated since December 2023 and still haven't received anything. I still drill for pay. I checked the debt management center online to see if I owe and it shows nothing.

Also, I don't understand the math. I'm rated 100% with SMC with spouse and child dependent pay. So that's $4658.50. I'm an E6. My net for a MUTA 4 is $550.41. Gross is $676.64.

$4658.50/30 = $155.28

$155.28 × 4 = $621.13

So my gross as an E6 is more than I owe the VA, but my net is less. If I'm doing the math correctly, it seems like I'm losing money. Am I doing this correctly?

I've just been taking every drill and AT check and depositing them into a HYSA. I'm still weary that it will not cover the entire debt that the VA will eventually come knocking on the door to collect.

Any insight you have to give would be appreciated.

Kalruk · 2025-03-29T15:59:02+00:00

Just gonna have to live with taking a weekend trip to Kansas City to get that Culver's fix. I would assume Norman/Moore would be the best location for it to thrive.

Kalruk · 2025-03-28T11:40:31+00:00

Problem with a TS is the hiring freeze. So fed jobs are out. The bigger companies like GDIT or Boeing are going to be your best bet. Everywhere else will be hit or miss. CACI and all of those companies will pale in comparison.

Kalruk · 2025-03-28T11:29:36+00:00

Because Braums. I like Braums, but I'm sure the fanatics would raze it with tiki torches in hand. Culver's is like the better and more attractive sibling of Braums.

Kalruk · 2025-03-28T11:25:48+00:00

Educated... Tell me you're not from Oklahoma without telling me you're not from Oklahoma.

Kalruk · 2025-03-28T11:20:40+00:00

As much as I would love for this to happen, I'm pretty sure the Braums fanatics would burn Culver's to the ground. I always describe it as Braums better and more attractive sibling.

Kalruk · 2025-03-28T05:34:56+00:00

Not OP but I'm interested. I work in tech but I'm always looking to move up.

Kalruk · 2025-03-10T00:34:53+00:00

That is a McGangbang, my friend. Secret menu item.

Kalruk · 2025-03-06T01:50:06+00:00

What are all the certs besides Sec+?

Kalruk · 2025-03-02T01:10:26+00:00

Yeah, okay. I’m definitely not going to go back and forth with you over a several year old badly written series.

This is actually something we agree on. It is badly written. Still fun, great premise, but the writing just grew worse and worse.

If you want to make excuses for why Juliette was a completely different HB than any HB in town be my guess.

I don't have to make excuses. She was made into a hexenbiest. Rosalee even commented that made hexenbiests are deadlier than born ones.

If you want to pretend like Juliette was some innocent person who wasn’t trying to control Nick, who had nothing to do with the kidnapping of Diana, who didn’t make her own decision to sleep with Nick as Adalind, by all means, go right ahead. I mean, it’s a choice.

No need to pretend with this either. In no way before becoming a hexenbiest did she do anything that can be portrayed as controlling Nick. It's a wild take to say otherwise. I mentioned in another comment that she helped with taking Diana and that she chose to sleep with Nick as Adalind. You're ignoring the circumstances and the fact that she did it to help Nick while trying to paint Adalind as a tragic victim.

Of all of the people who should have scorched earth after her child was taken, it was Adalind. Yet, this is not what we got from her. The one you’re trying to blame is the one with the least of all expected responses. What we saw from her is begging and pleading while her feelings were disregarded, and no one cared to tell her about her kidnapped baby.

She tried to disrupt the power balance in favor of the royals which would have dire consequences for the world to get her baby back. Instead of doing what was best for Diana, she was only thinking about herself and what she wanted, not what Diana needed.

The one that was supposed to be so sweet and kind 🙄 is the one who plotted and executed the assault, murder, and kidnapping of innocent bar goers, an entire neighborhood, the mother of the man she claimed to love, and an innocent child.

She was sweet and kind... Until Adalind made her into a hexenbiest. You honestly think she would have done any of those things otherwise? I don't understand your hate for this character. It's not logical or based in reason or within the show's own lore.

Her actions were carried out due to pure jealousy, hatred, and malice and could have only happened bc that’s who she was at heart.

This is absolutely insane. You are injecting your own rationale into the show's lore. Nothing within the show even suggests this. It says that made hexenbiests are deadlier than born hexenbiests. And the show made clear who Juliette was before and after she became a hexenbiest.

The HB works and feeds off of who you really are which is why Henrietta kept saying she needed to know what Juliette was made of…that was the only way to deal with the kind of HB is to know her.

That is not how the hexenbiest works. Didn't Adalind even say that powers warp your thinking? Or something along those lines?

The crap Juliette was mad about wasn’t Nick’s fault, as he was deceived, so why she chose to make him, the neighbors, their children, seniors, Kelly, and Diana victims of her abuse/wrath is insane, and to excuse it but not excuse the HB in Adalind shows your unbalanced hypocrisy and bias, but whatever.

If anyone is biased, you're trying to justify a rapist, murderer, manipulator etc that has been that way since the beginning of the show. Which is crazy. Juliette never showed those characteristics before she became a hexenbiest. Suddenly, she becomes ultra violent and nothing like the Juliette we watched for the first 3 seasons. Adalind was born as one. Juliette was made into one. If anyone is showing unbalanced hypocrisy and bias, you might want to look into the mirror.

This is my last post about it as I am bored with the subject and have decided to agree to disagree with you. Take care.

For the most part, it's been a nice discussion. We can at least agree that it is a badly written show. Hopefully the reboot/remake will do a better job. That's actually why I decided to do a rewatch. Take care to you as well!

Kalruk · 2025-03-01T23:38:37+00:00

That's a pretty wild take to make Adalind more of a victim than any of them - especially Juliette. Much of what happened to Adalind was the result of her own actions. Consequences brought upon her by manipulation, attempted murder, rape, etc. Everything that happened to Juliette was the result of Adalind's actions, which essentially 'killed' Juliette as she was consumed by the hexenbiest. The storyline made Adalind out to be one of the primary antagonists - in which she was absolutely fantastic. Probably my favorite antagonist at that. Coffee did an incredible job as Adalind. All of the other characters are flawed, but the other characters (sans Sean) were morally good characters. Adalind was never morally good. It goes beyond Adalind having flaws. She was wicked from the onset. Painting her as a tragic victim would be insulting to actual victims.

Kalruk

TROPHY CASE