VMFA187

I know. I'll be streaming them on my phone.

The Charlie just looks better.

H&K for life. 😎

Less than five weeks. I'm going to be in class on August 30th all day. 😞

The Marine Corps instills from the start that you are a Marine first, and your MOS is secondary. Personally all I wanted to do was fly, so I was jealous of Air Force and Navy fighter pilots who had more time to focus their efforts on their primary duty - Flying. With my social science degree the Air Force would've never accepted me for a pilot contract, plus I had 20/400 vision and only qualified with the Marine Corps' soft contact lens waiver. "Every Marine a rifleman, every Marine officer a provisional rifle platoon commander." We all have to go through six months of TBS where we train to lead our peers in various positions of leadership - Squad, Platoon, and Company level. After about two years in my first gun squadron I was offered the opportunity to be the Airframes OIC which put me in charge of about 45 Marines aged 19-52 while simultaneously my Division Lead qualification. It was rough balancing all of it and being responsible for people you didn't raise both CONUS and OCONUS. I had phone calls in the middle of the night about suicidal ideations, alcohol incidents, among others. I don't regret it but I wouldn't want to do it again. That's probably a bad attitude for a Marine officer but that's just my perspective.

I completely understand what you two are saying. It would be roughly $3,000/mo to purchase the adjacent property. It's within the budget. But I'm at a point where my priorities are changing. I don't want to work full-time anymore, I'd like to split my time between San Diego and N CA. Time is the only thing we can't make more of. If I can put that extra $3,000/mo towards the property I purchased, along with a couple decent big principal payments I can have it paid off in about five years and go fully part-time. My daughter is seven and son is two and I want to spend more time with my family while I have time and while they're young. I'll never get that back. I don't think there is any chance of there being a "neighborhood" around there. We have no mailboxes, no delivery options, no infrastructure for electricity or plumbing. Everything is completely off-grid up there and there is no industry, so little chance or development. Plus, I don't think many people want to live with bears on your back porch! Buying it would mean my chance of going part-time moves from a five year plan to 15+ which means I won't get to spend much time up there... Maybe I'll stop and pick up a few lottery tickets on the way to work this morning. Or just sell my home in San Diego.

$788,000. It's quite rural, halfway between Blue Lake and Willow Creek. There is not a lot of industry there which is why I believe the price was "relatively" low. Last week my realtor who assisted with the purchase told me 160 acres adjacent to our property went up for sale and asked if I was interested. I told her I obviously was, but cannot justify it now as I need to rapidly pay down the property because at 6.99%, interest is pretty insane. Purchase price for that was $375,000 if I recall with owner financing available at 10 years, 8%, with $75,000 down. Maybe one day, I just don't want to be working forever. I'd love to sell our home in San Diego and move up there full time and homestead, just not sure the wife is there yet. 😆

😆 I know. I'm hopeful that one day the state won't be run by the population of LA and SF, but it's probably not likely. I truthfully feel California is the most beautiful state that we have. I'll keep fighting for it.

I closed last month with Jon on a dream property with nearly 175 acres in Northern CA. It wasn't the easiest transaction but their team stayed on top of everything and made it happen. I think it's the third time I've worked with Trident and wouldn't choose anyone else.

Dude, you played football at Miami right? You never talked $hit? At least he didn't murder a teammate. 🤨

When I was at Florida State I took a class on the Vietnam War. One requirement was you had to interview someone who had taken part in some form or fashion. I interviewed a retired Marine who had flown Hueys in the defense of Khe Sahn. He did pretty well and won himself an award or two. When be presented at the awards by a General he was asked what his plans were. He informed the General he had intended to become a civilian. "Very well." Later, after the ceremony the aide came to him and said "The General wants you to stay in, what will it take?" He responded, "Send me to Pensacola, give me a transition and let me fly the F-4." He told me, laughing - "Biggest mistake of my life. I had never been around a more competitive group. I ate two hot dogs, someone had to eat five. I had a six pack of beer, someone had to down a 12 or 18 pack. I just could never win with any of those guys. It was amazing flying the airplane, but I was just in the wrong place. Everything these guys did was just so over-the-top."

What a badass aircraft. I miss when carriers and Air Force bases had a wide variety of aircraft.

I remember partying with Tripp when he was the CO out in Osan and we did a 3 or 4 week det from Iwakuni. He was up playing some of their songs on stage and one of our guys went to the bathroom, wrapped himself in toilet paper, then lit himself on fire. He ran out, slid across the bar and we all threw pitchers of beer on him to put it out. We called it a "flaming carrier qual." Tripp stopped playing, said "Never has another squadron come into our O'Club and taken it over. This is your place tonight guys!" Hell of a night.

After last season I decided to hedge my bets for the future by getting an MBA. ChatGPT is also incredible.

😆 Agreed that NIL is making CFB and most sports too taxiing to continue to follow. I stopped watching NFL the first CFB game I attended and I feel like it's getting harder to justify following your team when they're no longer a "team" and everyone is out for themselves.