Re-enlistment bonuses are friggin sweet! I didn’t get one, though — one and done I always say. Pilots are getting bank for staying in and flying for a living. Hell, I wish I got a regular enlistment bonus. That would have been awesome, but I still would have blown it all on dumb stuff. I blew my Private First Class pay hard on a new car once.

Hopped a bus out to Oceanside, California to resolve a bank issue and I went home with more of them. I hadn’t been off the bus but 10 minutes when that shady car dealer snatched me up off the sidewalk.

He had me in a new sports car in a couple of hours with the super low rate of only 18% interest and a $400 monthly payment. I would have gotten a better rate, but my credit score was a low 700, so I would have to refinance later he told me; what a great guy. My chain of command was pissed.

That was probably the most fun six months of driving I ever had — life lessons can be rough, dude.