Gunny goes live for tonight’s event

I will be blogging live starting at 8pm EST (25 OCT 2019)

LETS TALK!

I'll be blogging live this evening about...

Whatever You Want!

LEAVE A SUGGESTION BELOW IN THE COMMENTS...

and come back at 8pm 

Welcome back! There’s literally no one reading this live!!! Well future people... Cheers, to you! 

9pm

I’ve decided that tonight’s blog will be about my weekend. At this very moment, I imagine the many possible differences between what I’m doing and what my younger classmates are doing... In my younger years, I might have been out at a club or at a house party. At 41 years old, I’m at home with my beautiful wife and one of my sons (who is playing Fortnite online with his friends). My daughter is sleeping over at one of her friends house from high school. My other two sons are most likely in Virginia doing who knows what... I haven’t spoken to them in over a year, but that’s a story for another time...

10:07 pm

Enjoying some pumpkin pie with my wife... I would have felt pretty guilty about this on active duty. It’s pretty damn enjoyable as a retiree though...

10:17 pm

10:19pm

Daft Punk on Vinyl

10:30 pm

10:50pm

The pie is no more! Time to get back to homework before I attempt to get a few hours of sleep.

Weekends are Different for Veterans Attending College

The Weekend is Here!

Have a plan and be successful:

1 Make a list 

,,, and prioritize it

2 Make time 

for loved ones... The ones that do the most for you and often get the least amount of thanks... The ones that live under the same roof as you and have your back no matter what...

• Take your significant other on a date. 
• Go on a family outing.

3 Be kind 

to yourself... Balance is the key to life and happiness. Balance your Whole Self:

• Physical Health: Take it easy on caffeine and get some extra sleep if you can. This will pay off big time during the week when unanticipated tasks and expectations bleed into your sleep time.

• Spiritual Health

• Mental Health

4 DO YOUR HOMEWORK

5 Manage your personal life

it's all the small things that add up... Some are on your To-Do-List, and others are so seemingly trivial that you don't waste ink writing them down.

• Laundry
• Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
• Housekeeping
• Budgeting and Paying Bills
• Calling your Parents, Siblings, Kids, and important people that you have been putting off for awhile

Now get to it!

Money matters for veterans returning to school

I’ve been watching my money a little closer since going back to school... It’s not always easy... Here are a few tips and strategies to help your pocket book while adjusting to civilian life and navigating through the college battlefield.

3 Tips to Save Cash

1 Plan Your Meals

• Take Food With You
• Don't buy snacks from vending machines
• Keep extra water with you

2 Monthly Entertainment Fees

Cut them down, but don't eliminate them all together. You'll be spending a ton of time studying, doing homework, and completing assignments. Make your families entertainment preferences the priority.

Some entertainment sources come in handy for education:

1. High Speed Internet: Not for gaming, for research... For faster downloads and browsing while you do research for scholarly resources. 
2. Spotify: for all those podcasts that you can listen to during your commute that relate to what you are studying.
3. Amazon Prime: It cuts down on shipping costs and you can stream movies and tv shows

3 Cancel your Gym Membership: 

You won't have as much time as you used to. Still, I'm sure your health and fitness is important to you. Your school probably has a gym with no additional fees for you to use. Work out on campus and cut out the extra time, gas, and gym fees you're spending out in town.

VA Vocational Rehabilitation vs GI BILL, Vetran Shares Experience

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION 

(aka VOC REHAB)

VS

POST 9/11 

MONTGOMERY 

G.I. BILL

Personal Experience:

100% locked on for the University of Tampa using the Post 9/11 GI Bill before the situation goes sideways...

Many Veterans relate and identify with feeling frustrated while preparing to return to school. Reasons include lack of consistency from school to school and frequent changes to VA policy, among others. Get up to date information ahead of time and develop your battle plan early on in the process.

What YOU need to know

VOC REHAB: 

is a program for Veterans with a service-connected disability that impacts their ability to work. 5 different support/service tracks assist vets with finding and keeping a job, and living as independently as possible. 

The 5 tracks are:

• Reemployment track: 

  
  You may have the right to return to the civilian job you held before you deployed. Find out how we can help with this process.
  

  • Rapid Access to Employment track: 

  • If you want a job that matches your existing skills, find out if you can get employment counseling and job-search support.
  
  

• Self-Employment track: 
• If you’re a service member or Veteran with a service-connected disability, find out how we can help you start your own business.

• Employment through Long-Term Services track: 
• Find out if you may be eligible for vocational training to help you develop new job skills.

• Independent Living track: 
• Learn about services that can help you live as independently as possible if you can't return to work right away.

Qualifications:

•  Service Connected Disability rating of 30% or more

•  Have VA education entitlement remaining

•  Honorable Discharge documented on DD214

G.I. Bill:

Qualifications:

• Served at least 24 months in the Armed Forces

• Contributed to the G.I. Bill

• Honorable Discharge documented on DD214

Key Differences:

With Voc Rehab, Someone Else has a say: A Voc Rehab Counselor will have to agree with and certify your plan... This includes Where and What you want to study. With the GI Bill, YOU CHOOSE... But, the VA provides more comprenhensive benefits with the Voc Rehab program which may include 12 additional months (in addition to your GI BILL)  of education benefits.

Summary:

1. The VOC REHAB program is the best option, most of the time

1. if at all possible, VOC REHAB takes you from where you are, gives you a vocational makeover, and gets you back in the workforce

1. VOC REHAB has something to offer 100% disabled veterans

1. seek current up to date information from the VA

Sleep Deprivation Effects Impact Veterans

The old saying goes: "You Can Sleep When You're Dead"

Sleep deprivation is a serious issue. Military Personnel and Veterans may be at greater risk than the rest of the adult population. Being a College Student adds an additional element to sleep related health risks. Current studies show Veterans and Active Duty Military Personnel being twice as likely as other adults to experience sleep deprivation.

5 Translations, Improved Cultural Understanding for College Students and Veterans

What did you Say?

Civilian Life is different than you may have remembered it. Your level of discipline and attention to detail far surpasses the average person. While refining your character, the civilian populous continues to erode theirs. While this may certainly be the case, it is most definitely an over generalization that easily excuses Veterans from a poor understanding and lack of acceptance of fellow students and faculty that lack a structured military background. In other words, what you deem "Nasty" or "Unsat" about another person may be "Locked On" or "Squared Away" to them... And vice versa.

In light of this cultural phenomenon, here's a list of 10 translations to improve understanding of each other:

5 TRANSLATIONS FOR VETERAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

1
Veteran:   The Chow Hall is next to Motor T.
Civilian:  Starbucks is next to the Parking Garage.

2
Veteran:   Sally looks like 10 lbs of shit stuffed in a 5 lbs sack.
Civilian:  Your girl's muffin top is making me ill.

3
Veteran:   Suspend Com; Resupply inbound.. 
Civilian:  Stop texting me; it's on the way.

4
Veteran:   G6 is out to Lunch and this oversize paper weight is eating up my liberty time.
Civilian:  The IT department is a joke and the school computers are slow.

5
Veteran:   Reveille is at O-Four-Hundred Hours... MRE's for Chow... We'll form up and go for a short hump  day-packs; followed by hygiene and recovery time at the barracks. Muster for the 96 Safety Brief will be at 1300 with the Company Guns and Company CO.

Civilian:  We will wake up at the crack of dawn, eat camping food that was made for animals in a third world country, and walk 10 miles, while carrying 35 lbs of unnecessary shit in an over-sized backpack, before getting home to our dorm rooms to shower and pass the hell out. At 1 pm, we'll all get together and listen to an old jaded alcoholic and spoiled college frat boy talk about safety and share horror stories and tragedies before the four day weekend.

Have an Outstanding Translation to share? 

Comment Below!...

Veterans Educational Benefits, Exploring Options

Using Veterans Educational Benefits was supposed to be easy! 

I suppose it is, IF you know HOW to use them.

Lets get right to it... Your first stop should be the VA right? WRONG!!! This is where a lot of people start, but isn't the optimal starting point. You want more than an education, you want to get back to work in a new (post-military) career. The first step is to figure out what you want to do in your next career phase. We can get more into this later, but lets keep it simple for now.

K.I.S.S.(Keep It Simple Stupid) method to break this down Barney Style:

Set your trajectory towards a better future 

5 TIPS for SUCCESS

1.  K.I.S.S.(Keep It Simple Stupid)

2. Figure out what YOU want to be when you grow up

What is the best way to get started doing what you want to do?

• Interest and Skills Assessment Time

• CareerOneStop has online assessment tools.

 3. Know your benefits... 

Explore VA educational benefits online

• Post - 9/11 GI Bill

• One of these must be true for you:

• Served at least 90 days on active duty (either all at once or with breaks in service) on or after September 11, 2001, or
• Received a Purple Heart on or after September 11, 2001, and were honorably discharged after any amount of service, or
• Served for at least 30 continuous days (all at once, without a break in service) on or after September 11, 2001, and were honorably discharged with a service-connected disability, or
• Are a dependent child using benefits transferred by a qualifying Veteran or service member

• Current Benefit Rates




• GI BILL Comparison Tool




• Frequently Asked Questions

4- Contact veterans coordinators at potential schools

Avoid unnecessary stress and streamline your process. Contact the veterans coordinating official at your school today. Every school is different, but they usually have an office on campus and coordinate often with the registrar and bursars offices.

If you are attending the University of Tampa like me, I recommend contacting the Veterans Admissions office ASAP. They have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with you; they will assist in any way they can.

Call / Email / Visit 

Go to the campus in person if you have to. Take a copy of your DD214 and VA Certificate of Eligibility for educational benefits with you.

5 - ADAPT and OVERCOME!

Are you still reading this?... Everything after this is details, details, details... If you made it through the first 8 steps, you will already know enough to not come back to this list... This is also where individual paths start to change... This is where you find out that every school has a slightly different process... This is where you find out that the VA has updated their programs since the blog you are currently reading was posted... This is where you dig into the character you built during your time in the military and start to ADAPT and OVERCOME!

Its time to kick in some doors and make things happen! Just remember to keep your end goal in mind, and keep moving forward!

Put your foot in the door... Or just knock it down!

* some images on this page are from DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service). Discover more images/videos/stories at DVIDS

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Retires, Civilian Life Adjustment

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Once A Marine, Always A Marine

Transitioning to Civilian Life after retiring from the Marine Corps is harder than I expected. I felt prepared... I completed all the tasks, training, and attended all the briefs I was supposed to. I made a plan and stuck to it. It continues to challenge me in new and unexpected ways. 

I thought I was leaving my identity behind...

Gunnery Sergeant Joshua Campbell retires aboard the U.S.S. Missouri after 20 years Active Duty Service in the United States Marine Corps.

Nearly one year ago I departed for the last time. I thought I was leaving my identity behind, but I was wrong. I was only leaving the city I had lived in for nearly 4 years, a career, a lifestyle, many friends and colleagues, and about half of all my belongings behind.

My Plan

• Retire

• Relocate from Hawaii to Florida

• Go back to school

• Start a new career by age 45

Resources:

VA Transition Assistance Program (TAP)

TAP provides education and resources for service members, veterans, family members, and survivors (regardless of branch of service or active duty status)

VA Education Benefits Online Reference

Includes information about the GI Bill, Tuition Assistance, and other Veterans Education Benefits.

Social and Emotional Health Resources Online Reference

When life challenges you and your resilience is wearing thin, reach out! There are organizations and individuals offering assistance with their arms already extended. Reach out and let them lift you up in your time of need.

Defense Finance and Accounting Service

You need to know where your money is handled. You'll need to ensure your retirement account is created in a timely manner. Remember, no matter what you do, there WILL be a gap in pay. PLAN on not receiving a paycheck for at least 60 days after you receive your final pay. 

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