6.28.2002

This is something I recently found, although by no means new to the internet.





When was the last time you...


1. ...sent a handwritten letter?
Hmm, May 19thish, I sent a card to a friend for her 21st birthday.



2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand?
A long time ago. I'm not a cook. At all. I think I made some cookies about three years ago for a basketball team?



3. ...camped in a tent?

Two Weeks Ago. For the Army. For ten days. Great fun. Got really stinky. Before that, memorial day.



4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community?

Was going to volunteer for Hoopfest, but things got busy and I ran out of time. I don't remember when I volunteered last.
I'm bad.


5. ...helped a stranger?


Igh! I plead the fifth! I don't recall at this time (it's late, I had like 3 hours of sleep last night, and have been up since 6:30). I do consider myself a good samaritin, honest!


***
On other news, day was busy. I hate double discount days at work. That's a really good excuse to spend money on items I don't need. But I got this great deal on a pair of Sketchers and I couldn't resist. I needed a new pair of shoes. Of course, I bought a couple DVD's as well.


But my Army Check came in! Yeah! Joining the Army is probably one of the smartest things I ever did. It has bailed me out so many times. Of course, there is that small issue of PAY! Why do they keep demoting me to E3? I think I'm going to have to hound the finance guy daily until that get's sorted out. I'm so sick of that!


I think Pay is the biggest issue I've had since I joined the Army. I've had probably 4 pay problems since I joined and only one of them has been resolved. Ok, first, I went to two Drill Weekends before I even left for Basic Training. Back in 1999. I still haven't gotten paid for that. I also got promoted to E2 while I was in basic and didn't recieve E2 pay until three months later. That got resolved and I got back pay. I had a couple issues with GI bill, but that worked out over all and I am oh so grateful for that check every month, oh yeah! Well, anyway, I got promoted to E4 (Specialist, my current rank) in May of 2001. That's last year people. I got promoted with a eighteen months in, but I got my orders to prove that I do carry the rank. I didn't recieve E4 pay until November, and guess what? I went through an Annual Training during that time as well. And to top it off, now that I finally been recieving E4 pay, they demoted me back down to E3 in April. I don't remember getting that article 15! Where is this demotion that I never heard about! So anyway, now I'm getting E3 pay when I should be getting E4, and I just accomplished another AT with E3 pay.


This does add up in the long run. I can't wait to get my back pay for those two drill weekends I never got money for, PLUS 6 months of back pay for E4 (which includes an AT) and another 3 months of more Back Pay with another AT! I wanna know what is wrong with the system that they can't get my flippen' paygrade right!


Well, anyway, enough ranting. Other then the pay, army life is fine.

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