Looking for some wisdom

Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army journalist Staff Sgt. Thomas Mills.  

10.04.2005

Courtesy Story

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Staff Sgt. Thomas Mills
1BCT PAO

I know what I'm going to do with the millions (give or take) of tax free money I'm making here in Iraq when I get back. I've got big plans.

My motorcycle, which has been screaming for years now for various upgrades and add-ons, figures highly in those plans.

It needs to be lowered, it needs ape-hanger handlebars, and it needs more chrome.

Numbers, figures, mathematical equations swim around in my head -- can I afford that six speed transmission I've always wanted and still get the chrome engine covers?

I need retail therapy, after a year in this place, and by golly I'm going to get it.

My wife, though, keeps interjecting a most irritating factor into my retail therapy equations: wisdom.

Things don't swim in her mind.

They line up nicely and do her bidding.

Roth IRAs, Thrift Savings Plans, savings accounts and bonds are prioritized and categorized.

She has a month by month budget that looks twelve months out!

People assume that, as a Staff Sgt., I rent a small house somewhere. "No," I tell them, "we own a house."

And their next question is, "Oh, really? Where does your wife work?"

"In that house," I say.

People are amazed that she doesn't have a paying job; that we are a single income family.

How can you have a big van, a Harley-Davidson, a big house, three kids, and two big hungry Golden Retrievers, they want to know. It's easy, I tell themâ?¦I guess. To tell you the truth, with all the times I've been overseas or deployed I really don't know how we do it!

My wife is a homemaker, true, and she works hard to make that home while I'm away.

But she's also my financial advisor, my conscience and my wisdom.

I'm in short supply of any of those skill sets in my brain.

If I were single, making the same money I am now, I can guarantee you that I would be dirt poor, barely able to make ends meet.

Instead of planning meals week by week I would eat out whenever I wanted. Instead of putting massive restrictions on credit card use I"d shrug and whip out the plastic at a moment's notice with a weak promise that I won't use it the next time.

A promise that I would break, of course.

My bike would be gorgeous. I"d live in a shack and pay a ridiculous rent. I"d probably wear a Rolex watch, instead of a nice Seiko, but I would also starve the last five days of each month.

A couple of years ago I sold my old Harley while at Fort Polk and when I went to Fort Bragg I started looking for another one.

My wife went with me to the Harley dealer and lead me straight to a new bike from the previous model year that was being sold for below MSRP. Everything was rosy and sweet smelling until we got to the financing stage. My wife had found some obscure financial institution in Texas that could offer us a low rate. Harley said they"d beat it, but during the financing stage the guy behind the desk gave us a rate that was .1 percent higher. My wife picked up her purse and said, "Well we can't do it." Then she looked at me and said, shrugging, "Sorry, honey."

Sorry honey!? I had tears rolling down my cheeks. The guy behind the desk had tears rolling down his cheeks. She would not budge. Harley finally budged and I got my bike.

We all need a source of wisdom in our lives. For me it's my wife. For some it's the chaplain, or their parents, or their NCO. Some turn to ACS for advice on how to take care of the everyday business of living. We all need someone, whether it be financial, spiritual or emotional, to keep us on track.

I"d like to think that everyone in 1st Brigade Combat Team has a source of wisdom to turn to, but I know that isn't true. Some folks are floating around out there without an anchor to tie to, just like I"d be if I didn't have my source of wisdom.

I would like everyone to think about it, though, and beware. In the next few months we'll be redeploying back home to friends and family and those of us who don't have an anchor will have some problems.

Start looking now for that source of wisdom. If you can't find one, though, I"d really like a nice set of leather saddlebags and my budget won't cover it so maybe you could float me a loan?

• Date Taken: 10.04.2005
• Date Posted: 10.04.2005 16:52
• Story ID: 3191