Open an IRA for him. Basic low cost index fund. Compounding interest is a wonderful thing if you start young.
Open an IRA for him. Basic low cost index fund. Compounding interest is a wonderful thing if you start young.
I concur with everyone who said “a watch” since it’s an extremely useful thing to have on a first enlistment.
Some sort of deal in which he can’t buy a car hotter than a basic Civic or a truck larger than a Chevy S-10. (Or buy anything from a dealer within 100 miles of a military base.)Originally Posted by JRB
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
When my brother, a USAF surgeon, told me he was being deployed ISO the liberation of Haiti, first thing I did was get him a G-Shock so he wouldn't wear his Breitling to Haiti...
Little late for that, unfortunately. He's already making payments on a hotrod Subie he's had for the last couple of years. No idea what his monthly payment is on it but the rumors that have flown around put it close to double what I pay for my '18 Civic.
Now that you mention the car thing, probably all the more reason to talk with my dad about getting him set up on an untouchable savings account. :/
So very much this. Rows upon rows of used car lots out in Oceanside or San Diego with signs that said "We finance E1 and up!"
It's theoretically possible that I may have threatened to beat like a rented mule any kid in my squad that bought a car without my permission.
Not saying I knew a Chief who told kids that any E-4 and below who bought a car without his OK would be charged under the “Good Judgement; failure to exercise” provision.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
Obviously, others would know better than this retired soldier, but the Navy lets boots wear shades and work gloves in boot camp?
Last edited by Drang; 11-16-2018 at 11:03 AM.
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
In a bored moment in a bar outside of Ft Knox, I wrote out a 'outside the gate' bingo game.
It included things like the following:
-"YOUR LES IS YOUR CREDIT" used car dealerships featuring 5 year old V6 Mustangs and Silverado 1500's financed at 29%
-Pawn shop full of CIF leftovers (that has CID on speed dial)
-Shitty tattoo parlor that'll finance
-That one rowdy bar that might as well be called 'Nightly 15-6'
-Furniture store that's been 'going out of business' for 20 years
-The one sort-of nice restaurant that's full of E4's dating each other every weekend, usually as the stop before the 'Nightly 15-6' bar.
-Mil-centric liquor stores with a name like 'Fast Freddy's' that offers BOGO half off bottles of Fireball on the 1st and 15th of every month, etc
-Shady motel that rents by the hour
-The powersports dealership full of crotch rockets 'only dropped once' and repo'd Harleys
-'Rent to own' store full of TV's, Xboxes and laptops
-The shitty car stereo place that also does rent-to-own wheels and shit for E1-E4
-THE GOD DAMN STRIP CLUBS
-That one gun store full of Caniks, Sigmas, M&P sports and fake ACOG's.
-The no-name gas station that can't compete with the AAFES gas pump prices so they sell hookahs and shit to stay afloat
-A crappy mechanic's shop with a proprietor that was busted out as an E1 30 years ago because he banged the Sergeant Major's daughter or some other similarly implausible story
-The crappy apartment complexes full of troops that got married, that are generally worse than the barracks, charge exactly a married E3's BAH for a 2 bed 2 bath, and has a parking lot full of cars from that 29% financed used car dealership, and gets a visit from MP's or local LE every Friday and Saturday night
-THE WAL MART
etc etc
It really is the same outside of every damn military installation, everywhere I've been.
My experience in Army BCT was that no outside gear was allowed period- from prescription glasses to shoes to boots to insoles or whatever. They reneged on the ban on insoles around week 6 (of 10 weeks there)
No candy, no food, no pictures that were anything more than 'PG' rated. The only thing we were allowed was cherry or mint cough drops and nothing else, which turned into a racket on its own.
I made those recommendations as a 'nice to have once you're out of basic, but in the service' sort of thing. Insoles would be my basic training recommendation, if anything.
Reply With Quote