Hmm, ok we've advanced the Marine
Ok, let’s just say the work deal didn’t turn out as planned. We’re on plan B where we leave the house at 9 am or there about … I told sister that I had to pick-up the car and that the shop wouldn’t be open until 9 am. That part is the truth, but it might be an exaggeration to be telling her it’s not been picked up yet. I feel a tremendous amount of turmoil in leaving the house – especially with nothing to look forward to. I need time to think through my own work problems without being dumped on by clients. Monday mornings are tough. I’ll be going in … just not at a lickity split.This is sort of like my warning to Sr. Theresa. Let HER deal with that client. I know this isn’t what Dr. M. and us discussed just how things are turning out. Plus, I feel the need to write more and do it in quiet.
I’m not sure what I’ll do when I get to work. Sr. said that she’ll have someone doing the group on Mondays. I think she should do that every day. Don’t we have substitutes for this sorta thing? If you go to wearing out your auxiliaries then you are not going to have them when you need them. I don’t mean to be mean or be just a regular liar. Just having problems dealing. Which reminds me … we need to make room for getting that one medicine we’re missing. I’m sure that isn’t helping either. We didn’t have enough medicine to cover for last night. I should know better by now, but we missed asking Rich if he could pick it up on the way home. We could have figured we wouldn’t do it considering the impossibility of getting us out of the house over the weekend.
As to furthering our discussion on Thom – he seemed to be pretty much into a normal routine. He says that’s it’s been wet so that has curtailed some of the outside tasks and exercises. I know that he’s talking to Alexis every day, and they are doing fine with all that, but she has not yet gotten the score back from her tests.
She must have told Thom there were about 8 people there and no one felt as if they knew as much as they needed to. I really hope the best for her, but worry that Thom is worried over her. He doesn’t want to see her under hardship. I can see his point, but he also knows the point of wanting to support her on whatever she chooses to do. He’s a good guy.
Thom doesn’t seem overly talkative – which might have been from calling from the barber. He responds to questions, but doesn’t throw in much. Like you can say how are your friends, or how are you eating, and so forth, and you get one sentence responses which leaves you looking for the next question, because you’ve been pretty much dead ended. It’s not really much of a back and forth dialogue … it is one of respect, but I’m still looking at the back of a protected tortoise.
In response to all that … we know it’s been rainy, not much to do – still finishing paperwork, food’s fine, we should get more money soon, and not seeming real interested in taking general classes. I think he’s feeling at this point that college credit only would be the way to go because he could put that toward a degree. While I’m not arguing with his logic, I still think any school is better than no school. And, if starting a regular program is being thwarted because he can’t know how long it will be before he starts his real program, then he should be taking something small at least. There is too much down time and I know that’s going to lead to boredom and or trouble. I want to know what happened to his ambition. He is reading though and that part is good. He said he finished one book and is going to start another. This is good stuff.
I don’t think he likes doing the beach scene which is where most of the guys are spending their free time. He didn’t mention anything specific about having a car or doing something with it. I know that the money part is still being arranged. Hmm, just did some studying of pay grades. I think Thom as an E2 (PFC) is paid $1458.90 a month, but the housing allowance for having dependents is like $1003 per month. I think if they were dislocated and needed to move together to a PDS then there’d be about $1750 given for that. He might also be given an extra $200 for child support. There are other special things like a little budget for eating and special fees paid for being in a combat zone or on a submarine. And, there seems to be a nice bonus if you re-enlist. It depends on your job, the amount of money you are making (rank and year’s service) and the number of years you are going to re-enlist for.
There are positions Thom could be in that would generate bigger multipliers. But I think as a 2621 he’s only got a 2 x 1458.90 x let’s say 5 more years. Hmm, I think that means if he was at 1460 x 2 be 2920 x 5 = $14,600. Does that mean per month?
Ahh the 2008 rate of pay is actually $1,509.90, housing has gone up to 1,080, and now child support is at $207.30. Hmm, I think that subsistence Allowance which is like to defray eating cost is like $94.43 per month.
Umm, why are we looking at money again? Ahh, because Thom’s struggling through it.
So far now though it looks like about $2590 per month. I can see that makes sense as to Thom mentioned he’d be getting about $2500 … more like $2600 plus a couple hundred to help with child support. That be like a pretty good deal. Especially since I only make about $2600 AND I have a degree. Good deal to get married and ear an extra 1,100 per month. WooHOOO!!! Plus, if Alexis is working AND she continues to live at home then the two of them can be saving money … and I think that’s the part that Thom wants to get into. I think between them they figured they could be saving $1,500 a month. I don’t know what all it’s going to cost them to live, but it be a pretty sweet deal.
Ok, ok … enough of that. It’s enough to say that we shouldn’t have to be worrying about him. I think now with the phone, Joe’s $5000 school loan, and the $2000 we gave Maury … we have to concentrate on what next? Hehehe maybe just surviving ourselves. Still think we need to do something special for their marriage. It’s not everyday that your kid gets married.
Hmm, this is cool … we found this and sent it to Thom.
MARINE CORPS INTELLIGENCE
CIVILIAN
CAREER DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
2006
http://hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/dirint/Career%20Guide%20Final%20-11_2_05.pdf
It’s located there and it presents itself as such…
The primary audience for the Career Development Program is each individual employee.
The career development tools, including this manual, have been developed because the
Marine Corps recognizes the need for comprehensive career planning and management
guidance to recruit and retain our valuable workforce. It is the responsibility of each individual employee to take proactive steps in planning his or her career. While this process may seem daunting and labor-intensive, the effort will pay off. The Career Development Program should be viewed as a tool that provides much of the career planning assistance an individual needs, and offers a "head start" in the career planning process.
Marine Corps Intelligence Civilian Career Development Program has several overarching
objectives:
To meet current and future mission requirements by developing employee
knowledge, skills, abilities, performance, and career goals.
To maintain a function-specific Career Development Program that can be adapted
to accommodate organizational and mission changes.
To promote productivity and crisis flexibility by providing employees with broad
foundations in their professions to meet general and specialized needs.
To provide career growth opportunities at all performance levels.
To serve as a model to the DoD and Intelligence Communities by providing
standards achievable and adaptable to other local environments.
So that’s that … all my fumbling around worked toward something creative. Good work! Now … get to work!
posted by Ann Marie @ 8/18/2008 09:12:00 AM
Comments: 0
