Monday, August 9, 2010

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-06

Minimally productive day today, I'm afraid. I spent a good 6-7 hours on the road between errands, thanks to nasty traffic. Not good stuff, since my car lacks in a few essentials, such as AC.

The two primary tasks of the day were refilling a few supplies for Fairy Floss for the weekend, and investigating Veteran's benefits, since Jon had turned me on to the fact that the Obama administration had made a few changes in qualifications.

As it turns out, I was right about educational benefits, as the clerk told me rather brusquely. "You're screwed." I'm all for being straight forward, but that's a whole new level of government clarity. Since I didn't pay the $100 per month for my first year of service, I get nothing from them. Not a surprise, but really something I regret. Back in the first few days of the service, when this decision was made, the incredible financial benefits offered by the GI Bill weren't even mentioned, and the spin was essentially that if you didn't sign this paper, they'd cut your pay by $100. Wonderful cost saving measure by the government, and just the right thing to say to someone who hasn't had time to sleep in days, and who thinks he has college funding perfectly figured out, thanks to the Clemens scholarship.

Not that the tuition offered by that scholarship hasn't helped a ton, but it's not enough to live on. Ah well, youth offers so many chances to screw up....

As to health benefits, it at least looks like a possibility. Unfortunately, I only have a one page DD-214 (the exit papers for getting out of the Navy). Apparently, I need to request the 4 page version before I can apply for benefits. No worries - I'm expecting this to be a fairly long evolution anyway before I see anything out of it.

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