In the Army/Needing Purpose

LordThunderbolt · 2017-10-25T04:07:36+00:00

Forget the girl. You're active duty. When your away, your girl goes to Chad for play. You made the mistake of investing too much of yourself in this one girl. Boots on the ground overseas don't plug wet and horny holes back home. The girl is a play thing, that's all she can be to you. I would highly suggest you pump the brakes on how much contact you have with her, and go see a few escorts to remind you that you're not in a relationship or not gonna jump in any relationship any time soon. As a military man, you are a target and a gold mine for women. Don't tell me she's not like that, shut up. You DONT know her.

As for the military, it sucks but you signed a contract. All I can tell you is that you should milk it for every single gram of benefit it can give you while you're with it. You need to start thinking about your exit. Many veterans make the mistake of not preparing to return to civilian life after their service. They don't properly save money, they don't cultivate a social network back home to ease them back into Civilian life when they get out, and they don't learn any skills that translate very well into the civilian workforce. What ends up happening is the veterans are stressed out, have PTSD, nobody to talk to or hangout with or have good times with, they go broke fast because they didn't properly prepare, and they're basically unemployable because they have mental issues they're dealing with and their only skills involve sending rounds down range and cleaning guns.

In your case, you have the nursing qualifications for now. Don't forget that the nursing license expires and you will have to renew it at some point soon. Go as high up as you possibly can in terms of getting medical qualifications if that's really your thing. If you don't like nursing, start finding a different skill NOW. Get every certificate or extra training hour that you can get to build your mind and beef up your qualifications and make you employable outside the military. Other things you should do include:

L.I.F.T. it is VERY important that you put on size and muscle, especially your back and your legs because you will be picking up snd carrying shit all the time.
Don't be sending money to no bitch back home for whatever reason.
Open a savings account, and start dumping MOST of your paycheck in it.
I know the military has retirement plans but I don't know how they work. However, put as much money in it as you can possibly can with each paycheck. If the max is 9%, DO IT. By doing that you will be preparing for when you're no longer in the military.
Read the book "The Emperor's Handbook by Marcus Aurelius". You're actige duty and you're gonna get shipped off. With the human orange ballsack in chief, you might be going to North Korea or Iran soon. You will be tasked with doing shit that you might not want to do. You will be executing orders that may or may not go against your moral principles. You signed up for this though. Therefore you must be at peace within yourself and have a calm mind. Reading that book will help you process your experiences and instill a certain stillness and mental fortitude in you. It'll help you avoid all those horrible mental issues that might come from your service in the future.
Save MORE money
Pick up books on investing in stocks, currency, and real estate. You will have idle time in your hands. Use it wisely.
While you're still home, it is CRUCIAL that you join some sort of meet up club around an interest you have. Have people to talk to and have good times with. Even if the friendships aren't deep yet. Just have a group of people you can turn to for your dopamine fix when you're back home. It'll be very important for your transition back into civilian life. Keep in contact with at least 1 of them.
Don't worry about bitches too much. Stick with whores and foreign hoes you meet at foreign bars. NEVER commit. You will be in a very vulnerable emotional mind state when you're deployed. You're away from home, living in dog shit conditions, surrounded by mostly dudes, are constantly on alert etc. You will be trying to find comfort or emotional warmth from the first chick you talk to.

That's all I have for now. I'll update it if more comes to mind.

HardLessontoLearn · 2017-10-25T04:18:46+00:00

First, you're lucky you didn't get super fucked in your divorce. If you don't currently know others in the army who were mega-fucked, you will shortly. Dependas have that name for a reason.

Second, it sounds like you have four years before you're out of active duty. That's a good amount of time- not so much that you shouldn't start thinking about what you want to do and positioning yourself to do that, but also not so little that you have to know right away. If you have the points, turning down E5 is stupid. Maybe it's only a ~2.8/3k increase, but that's ~$12k over your next 4 years active duty. In addition, E5 is the first promotion that isn't automatic. What will it look like when you're 27, leaving the army as an e4, never having received a merited promotion? Answer- shitty. You can't change that you joined the army, but you can make the most of your time remaining. Man up and go for the promotion.

Third, start taking online college classes with tuition assistance now. Trust me, everyone I know who has taken the classes when they're in has had a better time than those who wait until they're out. AMU has really flexible classes and professors. Start on those electives.

Fourth, you're lucky to have a job that's directly transferable out of the military. Instead of staying in your resentful toward the army pity party, recognize that there are men and women who also signed that blank check and came out after 6 years a bit fucked because the civilian world wasn't keen on their door-kicking skills. I'm not saying you have to be an rn or lvn forever, but you do have a great transferable skillset. With the flexibility and pay that nursing provides, you'd be stupid not to at least consider it as a career, especially as you seem a bit lazy and at least already have the basic credentials.

Fifth, not sure I need to say it, but don't marry this girl. Don't give her a ring. Don't let deployment disillusion you into thinking she's the one. I caution because it happens. Every. Damn. Time.

Sixth, get your shit together. If this girl is a catch working two jobs and going to college and your ass can't even decide if you want a promotion that's in your lap, she's a bit stupid not to leave you. She's out of your lazy league. You need to find some damn motivation, suck it up, and start at least matching her work ethic. No one on an Internet sub can tell you want you're supposed to be when you grow up. I can tell you that the civilian world can be just as monotonous as the military and that four years from now, you probably won't have any miraculous revelations. You need to start DECIDING you're going to be motivated and committed (those are choices, not something everyone just wakes up feeling, but things hard working men decide), and taking actions aligned with those choices.

ScottDurden · 2017-10-25T06:12:48+00:00

You're never going to find purpose in anything outside of yourself.

There's no career or one girl that's going to truly give you fulfillment. You can only find it within yourself. Worship your body in the gym & train your mind by reading books.

herroweric · 2017-10-25T07:59:41+00:00

Like LordThunderbolt said, forget the girl.

Milk your military benefits. You're entitled to the military pension, security clearance, and can easily move into civilian work (especially public sector) due to veterans preference.

Move up the ranks and make E-7 or move to becoming an officer. Save your money, make some smart investments, and you will be set.

Question, where are you going to be deployed? I work in Japan with the US government and am familiar with places where you should go and avoid in case you are deployed near the Tokyo area.

SirKolbath · 2017-10-25T09:43:08+00:00

Read everything written about the military HERE.
Consider using your tuition assistance and GI Bill for trade school to learn something like welding or carpentry. I used every drop of college funding to get advanced degrees I don't even use - and I'm one of 7% of Americans to work directly within their masters program specialty.
Lift.
Meditate.

ReddJive · 2017-10-25T12:48:53+00:00

I've had a few soldiers like you. you haven't accepted that the failure was you. Not the Army.

The army is a machine. It really doesn't care nor feel. That girl you were with was going to leave you no matter what. She was never in it for you just what you represented and then something she thought was better came along.

You've done nothing RP here. Nothing. Just read a bunch of things and decided to study harder.

You have no mission in life no purpose. But I am not going to tell you what that is. That's your job. Things won't be any better on the outside in fact they are worse. This isn't the Army's fault it's yours. The Army doesn't give two shits about you as a person.

You've got a nursing license and you have no idea what you are going to do? You've achieved more then most and you're throwing it away. Not to mention the experience you will rack up. It takes civilians many years to get to where you are.

Getting Deployed and causing me to want to spend more time with a girl who has good qualities for now.

If she leaves that's her decision. She can follow you or not. You keep moving forward. You need to get your dick out of the dirt.

Title	In the Army/Needing Purpose
Author	Perpetual_Protege
Upvotes	7
Comments	14
Date	October 25, 2017 3:17 AM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/78l1y9/in_the_armyneeding_purpose/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/in-the-armyneeding-purpose.116904 https://theredarchive.com/post/116904

Comments