It has been four years, but after 5 password attempts and a chat about Twilight:2000 with another Paratrooper this afternoon, I am back on this forum.

A lot has happened in the last 4 years since I had been on this forum.

Rather than immediately rehash, I first just want to say hello again to all of you lads and ladies.

Here is a quick rundown on my last month in the United States Army back in September 2014, now that I am completely out of the Army, and now some old wounds have FINALLY started to heal regarding my time in the military.

The original post on this forum thread was typed up about 1 month before I officially ETS'd from Active Duty on 22 September 2014.

The Army was so fucked up by the time I fought to get the
fuck out early on a Reduction in Force contract by getting a job as an above-minimum wage construction worker, that the Army couldn't even get me my DD214 on the date of my ETS.

I had to stay at Fort Bragg, NC, one day after the end of my official
time in service, AND I had to be clean shaven and in uniform, when I
retrieved my DD214, on 23 September 2014.

Sergeant Hauser was so highly accustomed to this particular type of Fuck Fuck GameTM, that he just added another dosage of alcohol as required by the Spirit of The Bayonet.

This might not seem like a big deal, but if you're anyone who is anyone who has served time like I did, which I know there are still a few of you here kicking and breathing, you know how something like this "final out" experience might affect a man's soul... if he still had any left, which, after four overseas tours and three of them including Hostile Fire Pay and Imminent Danger Pay, this Paratrooper barely did.

I did everything a good soldier was supposed to do, even if it meant
me hurting myself, but the fucking Army almost didn't pay me thousands
of dollars for storage unit compensation as promised, among other seemingly "minimal" things. The mental bandwidth to put up with it while performing tasks and duties well above my pay grade had reached a limit even I had previously never expected from what I thought was the finest army on the planet.

My soul was basically murdered by the Army, other people knew it, other people acknowledged, nobody had the capacity to care, so it was time to go.

This, along with the dreaded reality that my DD214 might not be ready on time, is why, directly before, during, and after I initially started this forum thread, I held myself hostage in my barracks on Smoke Bomb Hill.

I did not go on terminal leave as I had planned. Instead:

-I ended up selling all of my leave days to compensate for the Airborne injuries sustained that took me off jump status so I would still have some money in my pocket before heading back to Florida by myself.

-I picked up my DD214 a day late and a dollar short.

-I damned my wallet to Hell by allowing my storage unit full of 8 years of memories to stay up in North Carolina, where it still sits today, and it still needs to be cleared out.

-I put Fort Bragg, NC in the rearview mirror of my 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport on a lift kit and 33 inch tires, and moved into the next phase of my life, Traumatic Brain Injury or not, like a good Paratrooper is supposed to do.

-I've been dealing with a lot of major health issues, my dick doesn't work around women and I'm 31, I'm fighting a lot of addiction, I live on my family's back porch without central heating or air, spiders crawl on me at night, but it could be worse: I could be living in Twilight 2000.

I missed this forum, and here is what I have been up to at a glance:
www.endeavorstosuccess.com

I'm currently working on a science fiction universe for my first book, I've decided to dedicate my life to art and music, and I'm working on some wargaming and roleplaying game rules of my own that will all tip a feathered hat back to games like Twilight: 2000, also known as T2K, and All Flesh Must Be Eaten, also known as AFMBE.

-Eric