I am going to break down my story into a couple of posts over today, so please bear with me:
I got discharged on a Tuesday morning. I was called at 0700 and told to get down there ASAP and since it was our boat's Yeoman, come in civvies. Since I was med boarded out, I got to collect my entire reenlistment bonus, sold 60 days of leave and my regular pay. The check was for just over $28K. I messed up at the NFCU on base and the teller actually hit the panic button. I was a little paranoid about having a lot of cash on me … had spent 2 weeks of terminal leave so I was in civvies with a beard ... so when I went in I took a deposit slip and wrote on the back that I wanted $6k in cash. When I got to the teller, I handed her the slip but forgot to give her my check … After the guns were holstered, I closed my account, got my cash and a cashiers' check and was on my way.
I left there about 1300 and drove straight to the unemployment office in Charlestown, RI(I was living off base there) and signed up for my pennies. This was preplanned because unemployment for RI was $274/week vs the $135 in Alabama. I bought a 20 year old Mercedes 280SE to restore for $1500 went home and loaded it up. Since this is my idiot thread I will share this … I was offered $5K cash for that car by a guy when I stopped for gas … I knew the guy and he restored them and shipped them to the UK for resale. I flat turned it down. Keep that in mind.
The next morning I headed down the road at about 0400 headed to redneck country. I drove the piss out of that car for about 18 hours before I stopped and got a hotel room in SW Virginia. I now live about five miles from that very hotel. I slept about 6 hours and lit back out. As I was coming over the mountains near Chattanooga the car would backfire when under a strain. I kept on … was going home without delay. When I took my exit in Birmingham(about an hour from home), well … the fricken head gasket blew. So after six years, I rolled back into town with over $25k, $274/week income in a Benz that was on a tow truck. It went downhill from there …
EDIT: I had the head gasket replaced but the heads warped. About two years later I traded the Benz for $100 and an ounce of pot.