What a f****** joke: Iraq as a way out of debt

[ProSense]

A Way Out of Debt by Way of Iraq: Volunteering for Duty to Pay Off the Bills

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By JOHN LELAND
Published: September 3, 2007

Nick Sloan was $68,021.35 in debt earlier this year when he decided he needed a change. Mr. Sloan, 26, is a captain in the Air Force, and was stationed in Colorado Springs. Looking at his financial life, he saw only a series of bad decisions.

So he made what he calls a “radical” break: he volunteered to go to Iraq. In May he arrived for duty in Baghdad.

“I came to the realization that I was so far over my head, I had to do something drastic to increase my cash flow,” Captain Sloan said by telephone from the Green Zone, where he now receives extra pay and has minimal living expenses. “Iraq did that.”

In a nation swimming in debt — prime, subprime, adjustable, student, payday — debt reduction is coming to resemble dieting, a province of gimmicks, good sense, talk radio and endlessly resourceful scheming. Though there is as yet no South Beach Debt-Loss Plan, for Captain Sloan, there is Iraq.

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But even in the relative safety of the Green Zone, Captain Sloan said, he sees his fellow service members taking unnecessary risks — by not saving their combat pay.

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(emphasis added)

[tabasco]

1. Give the fucker an M16 and send him out on patrol.

Sitting on his ass in the Green Zone with his thumb up his ass, collecing danger pay.

Make him earn it.

[TheUniverse]

10. Wow, I've never seen such disrespect...

What the hell was that all about?

[Esra Star]

13. You get a lot of that around here. Just tune it out and celebrate

the democracy that DU is.
Welcome to the all dancing, all action board btw.

[tabasco]

14. I'm a former infantryman with two combat tours.

I hate REMFs. Deal with it.

On edit: You know what I hate even more than REMFS? Fatass coward republicans who sit at home in Fort Living Room cheerleading the war, claiming liberals hate the troops because we want to bring them home from an unjustified, bloody quagmire.

[TheUniverse]

16. I dont get it.

I had to look up this term REMF because I never heard it, and It stands for Rear echelon mother fucker. So because he's in a green zone you hate him? Would you prefer it if we took all the soldiers out of green zones, so they will no longer be REMFS. Would it be worth more soldier deaths for that?

[TahitiNut]

17. I was a REMF in Nam ... USARV HQ Co. at Long Binh, E5, 1969. (Draftee.)

While I don't have a CIB, I never ran away. :shrug: Thank you for your service. :patriot:

[Maq]

2. Found a ltr on the web related to this $$$$$ subject

Excerpt: "My Kid’s Gonna Lose His Home In The Mortgage Meltdown, And Was Thinking Of Joining The Army. I Turned Him On To GI Special"

But how many of these enlistees are joining to get at the twenty thousand. Ten grand almost immediatelly and the rest on completion.
Some of these recruits could be enlisting to help out the immediate family too. Mom and pop could be in financial straits.

Of course, I wonder about Captain Sloan preaching about saving the combat pay when he was in the hole to the tune of sixty-eight grand.

[Bobbieo]

5. Aren't these new enlistees called "mercenaries'?

[Maq]

7. The Republican military Arm(y) are a bunch of mercenaries

Paid for from the stolen treasury of the USA and its citizens' grandchildren. They are paying for the Corporate Private Miltary Mercenary armies which are now recruiting in foreign coutries such as Kenya and Cemtral America.

Those kids enlisting for the bonus are not in my opinion mercenaries. But they are lowering the standard of Military Honor they could earn.

[Democrats_win]

3. Congress, do you hear America's screams for debt relief? Predatory lenders must be punished.

They are terrorizing tens of millions of Americans. Forget the cave men in the desert. Go after the men hiding on Wall Street. They pulled the bait-and-switch giving people low interest rate loans and then raising them. Usury is not only against the law, it is immoral.

Do you hear the people scream?

[MadMaddie]

6. The law preventing people from filing Bankruptcy is even more

dangerous now.....

This law needs to be repealed or modified.

[fed-up]

15. some loans were predatory/bait/switch-others were pure greed of buyer-ZERO down-80/20 loans nt

[stillcool]

4. what will they think of next?

But even in the relative safety of the Green Zone, Captain Sloan said, he sees his fellow service members taking unnecessary risks — by not saving their combat pay.

“I see that a lot from guys here, especially the younger guys,” he said. “They’re not afraid to spend their money. I do my best to tell them: ‘You’re risking life for this money. It should go to something better than a new computer or junk.’ Some listen, some don’t. They don’t want to change. They’re used to buying what they want.”

One young airman told him: “My wife is already letting me buy a new Nissan Titan and a 60-inch TV when I get home. Now, I just have to decide between a hot tub or Jet Skis.”

Captain Sloan’s first question was, “Have you thought about maybe putting it into a retirement account?”

In his case, he said, he plans to leave the military in May 2008 with $50,000 to start a real estate business. “I’ll do whatever my country asks of me, but if there’s a way to benefit my life, I should definitely take it,” he said.

[enid602]

9. from Baghdad to real estate

That's rich; going to Iraq so he can save up to purchase a real estate business. In this day and age! He's certainly not adverse to risk.

[havocmom]

8. A way out of debt for Halliburton

Which Cheney must have been under pressure to provide after all his screw ups running it himself.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. I just glanced through this guy's blog, not much substance there. It doesn't say how he got

68K into debt as a 26 year old, but from the few comments on the topic in the blog I'm gathering it's from buying crap he didn't need, not tuition.

[Captain Hilts]

12. That's why the truckers sign up for the convoys. The money. It's an economic draft. nt

[TahitiNut]

18. ... and folks still think we don't have a 'draft'.

What the hell ... economic inequities are good enough, right? :eyes: