25 June 2006
23 June 2006
$!@$*! Army
ARrrrrrggggghhhhh...
Very ticked off.
Irritated.
A few other things, too.
The monthly pay stubs came out today. I, of course, eagerly checked for a few reasons: a) to verify that the Army had correctly processed my rent & utility payments and b) to make sure nothing else was wrong.
"B" is something which any Soldier is smart to do each and every month.
Why?
Why should a Soldier who has a fixed rate of pay have to verify his paycheck? It's not like it varies because I worked a different number of hours each week.
Because a wise Soldier is always checking for errors. Since we only see our paystubs monthly, any problem can quickly multiply into a nightmare.
For example, my latest bit of good news from the pay department.
Due to my low paygrade and high number of mouths to feed, the Army has been giving me FSSA (Federal Supplemental Subsistance Allowance). It helps provide the $$$ to get by (y'all didn't think the so-called "Guardians of Freedom" were high-paid millionaires, did you?).
Anyway, it seems that back in February, the folks at Finance told our Battalion to tell all Soldiers receiving FSSA to re-certify and that the list would be verified.
Any guess who didn't get told?
So, for the next three months, I continued receiving the FSSA... just as I believed I was supposed to.
Until month four, June. It seems that this month, the Army has decided to tell me about the FSSA being cut off in February. So, not only am I not receiving this month's FSSA allowance, but the Army has also announced that they have determined that I've been mistakenly overpaid and they want the money back. So, they're coming after me for $1500!
Yup, usual nightmare... a mistake is made (often by the Army, or rather personnel in offices who are ambivilent and don't care about what effects their (in)action has on real people) and it grows over time before the Army realizes the mistake, and then... the Soldier is on the hook.
This is not the first time I've experienced this. In fact, it's about the fifth.
So, yippee... really soured my mood today. Pah.
Very ticked off.
Irritated.
A few other things, too.
The monthly pay stubs came out today. I, of course, eagerly checked for a few reasons: a) to verify that the Army had correctly processed my rent & utility payments and b) to make sure nothing else was wrong.
"B" is something which any Soldier is smart to do each and every month.
Why?
Why should a Soldier who has a fixed rate of pay have to verify his paycheck? It's not like it varies because I worked a different number of hours each week.
Because a wise Soldier is always checking for errors. Since we only see our paystubs monthly, any problem can quickly multiply into a nightmare.
For example, my latest bit of good news from the pay department.
Due to my low paygrade and high number of mouths to feed, the Army has been giving me FSSA (Federal Supplemental Subsistance Allowance). It helps provide the $$$ to get by (y'all didn't think the so-called "Guardians of Freedom" were high-paid millionaires, did you?).
Anyway, it seems that back in February, the folks at Finance told our Battalion to tell all Soldiers receiving FSSA to re-certify and that the list would be verified.
Any guess who didn't get told?
So, for the next three months, I continued receiving the FSSA... just as I believed I was supposed to.
Until month four, June. It seems that this month, the Army has decided to tell me about the FSSA being cut off in February. So, not only am I not receiving this month's FSSA allowance, but the Army has also announced that they have determined that I've been mistakenly overpaid and they want the money back. So, they're coming after me for $1500!
Yup, usual nightmare... a mistake is made (often by the Army, or rather personnel in offices who are ambivilent and don't care about what effects their (in)action has on real people) and it grows over time before the Army realizes the mistake, and then... the Soldier is on the hook.
This is not the first time I've experienced this. In fact, it's about the fifth.
So, yippee... really soured my mood today. Pah.
22 June 2006
World Cup
How absolutely cool is it to be watching the World Cup match that's happening just a short bit down the road from my house...
11 June 2006
A New Home, A New Start
It's been a long quiet here on the blog. However, I can assure that it's not been a quiet time here.
So, what's happened? Well, the reason we dropped off the wired world in the first place was that we were cutting all of our utilities... we've moved. Where?
Well, we found a place off post. And it's quite a find! It's 160 square meters (think about 1900 square feet), two stories, with a walk-around attic, and EVEN a basement... and the basement is a stone basement, like an old dungeon. We have a huge yard for the kids, a garage big enough to fit two of my SUVs, and a nice courtyard for extra parking room. The kitchen is huge... we fit on of our dining room tables in there and there's STILL room to walk around it!
We finally have lots of room for the whole family to have a bit of elbow room. And it's a beautiful 100 year old house with all of the wonderful German features we've come to love... the tilting windows, scrolling shutters, very sturdy construction.
Of course, there's always a downside. The house is a bit far away from the post. It's about a 35-40 minute drive to the base. So, I end up waking up at 0430 every morning, and of course, once at post, I'm there all day. Change clothes in the gym, etc. But, it's all worth it to give the kids a decent place...
Thomas can toddle around the yard all he wants, M chasing a ball all over, chalk drawings on the paving stones... and the walls are nice and solid so it's much more peaceful. We're not crammed in on top of each other anymore.
Plus, we're out in Germany for real now. As far as we can tell, there aren't even any other Americans in town, so it's going to be quite an adventure.
The girls have even had some German kids come over and play. No one knows what anyone else is saying, but they have quite the ball.
Well, it's getting late for this post, and I arise in 6.5 hours for another fun-filled week. Stay tuned...
So, what's happened? Well, the reason we dropped off the wired world in the first place was that we were cutting all of our utilities... we've moved. Where?
Well, we found a place off post. And it's quite a find! It's 160 square meters (think about 1900 square feet), two stories, with a walk-around attic, and EVEN a basement... and the basement is a stone basement, like an old dungeon. We have a huge yard for the kids, a garage big enough to fit two of my SUVs, and a nice courtyard for extra parking room. The kitchen is huge... we fit on of our dining room tables in there and there's STILL room to walk around it!
We finally have lots of room for the whole family to have a bit of elbow room. And it's a beautiful 100 year old house with all of the wonderful German features we've come to love... the tilting windows, scrolling shutters, very sturdy construction.
Of course, there's always a downside. The house is a bit far away from the post. It's about a 35-40 minute drive to the base. So, I end up waking up at 0430 every morning, and of course, once at post, I'm there all day. Change clothes in the gym, etc. But, it's all worth it to give the kids a decent place...
Thomas can toddle around the yard all he wants, M chasing a ball all over, chalk drawings on the paving stones... and the walls are nice and solid so it's much more peaceful. We're not crammed in on top of each other anymore.
Plus, we're out in Germany for real now. As far as we can tell, there aren't even any other Americans in town, so it's going to be quite an adventure.
The girls have even had some German kids come over and play. No one knows what anyone else is saying, but they have quite the ball.
Well, it's getting late for this post, and I arise in 6.5 hours for another fun-filled week. Stay tuned...
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