PsychoBlues

[NightTrain]

There is a bet going about you.

Were you, or were you not a REMF?

 

[freeandfun1]

I vote REMF (if anything).

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by freeandfun1
I vote REMF (if anything).

Tough crowd tonight! If you see NT, tell him to clean out his mailbox!

What are you doing up this late?

 

[freeandfun1]

Originally posted by Kathianne
Tough crowd tonight! If you see NT, tell him to clean out his mailbox!

What are you doing up this late?

Stressing! lol

Sold our house, decided to stay in town afterall, and now need to find a new one. The biggest problem is this - we are too picky! The next problem is that home prices here have skyrocketed.

The good news is that prices have stopped climbing (have actually dropped a bit from the high - when we got out! ) and the housing market is settling down so we should be able to get a decent priced home soon. We put an offer in on an house today, but the owner wants to leave it on the market a little longer to see if he gets any bites at the price he is asking - he won't. The house is nice outside (brick tudor) but needs a total remodel job on the inside (too choppy). My wife will have fun fixing all that though if we can get it!!

 

[Annie]

That sounds nice! I was reading about your housing problems a day or two ago. What made you change your mind about moving? AFTER you sold your house? :

 

[freeandfun1]

Originally posted by Kathianne
That sounds nice! I was reading about your housing problems a day or two ago. What made you change your mind about moving? AFTER you sold your house? :

Frankly, it was a combination of matters. In hindsight, I think we just saw an opportunity to "cash out" of our house so we convinced ourselves we wanted to move out of state to justify our selling the house we love so much. Honestly, it was too hard to pass up the money. We had some nice equity built into our home and then with the "boom" we were able to double it. So that put us in a position that was hard to turn away from. We will likely rent while we wait for the prices to settle back down a bit. There were only just over 2,000 homes on the market when we sold ours, now there are over 6,000. So it won't be long that people will either take em off the market, or start dropping their prices. Many found themselves in a bad position - they bought homes before they sold their own. Now that there are so many homes on the market, they can't get the prices they need for them to be able to afford their new homes. At least I am in the opposite position which is much, much safer. At least I have my cash!!

 

[Annie]

That does sound like a good deal and like you've come to realize that it is. So you said earlier that Vegas is begging for teachers? How's the pay and cost of living?

 

[freeandfun1]

Originally posted by Kathianne
That does sound like a good deal and like you've come to realize that it is. So you said earlier that Vegas is begging for teachers? How's the pay and cost of living?

I understand the pay for teachers is fairly good compared to other states. The Clark County School District is the largest in the country and they are in the process of building 48 more schools out of an 88 started in 1998.

Most elementary and middle school teachers are "year round" teachers as most of those schools are "year round" schools.

The cost of living is something else. It really depends on what you are use to. The medium home price here is $274,000. Rents in nice homes range between $1,200 a month to $3,000 a month for a highrise condo or house in Red Rock Country Club on the Golf Course.

Gas is expensive here - about the same as SoCal and sometimes higher. Food is not too bad, but utilies are a killer. In the summer months the electric bills can be high (our house is 3,500 square feet and our high bill in the summer is around $300 and our lows are in the low $100's.). Home cooking/heating gas is also expensive. But that is probably par for the course. Water - that is the problem with Vegas. Our water bills run around $400 a month!!! in the summer (landscaping 1/3 acre) and $250 in the winter.

 

[Annie]

Hey, with the name of the district I can probably find the salary scale. How about suburbs, I don't think I'd want to live in 'Vegas'. How far out do the suburbs sprawl? I'm in Chicago suburbs, about 35 miles outside the city.

 

[5stringJeff]

OK now... I was a REMF, what the hell does that have to do with anything?!? :

 

[freeandfun1]

Originally posted by Kathianne
Hey, with the name of the district I can probably find the salary scale. How about suburbs, I don't think I'd want to live in 'Vegas'. How far out do the suburbs sprawl? I'm in Chicago suburbs, about 35 miles outside the city.

The Clark County School District encompasses all the schools in Clark County which includes Las Vegas, Henderson, N. Las Vegas, Logandale, Pahrump, Blue Diamond, etc.

Vegas is pretty spread out. So even when you live in the city, you might be away from "the strip" which is the part of Vegas that most people are familiar with. I live in Summerlin which is a master planned community in the NW part of the Valley. We have a nice mix of residential, retail and commercial properties all built around each other to keep driving to a minimum. It is a little sterile at first, but over time the neighborhoods mature nicely and get their own character. It is quite nice actually.

 

[NightTrain]

Originally posted by gop_jeff
OK now... I was a REMF, what the hell does that have to do with anything?!? :

LOL

I think ole Pyscho's silence is quite telling. Pay up, you guys!

 

[Psychoblues]

Are you certain your coding is understood at all? Actually, it's laughable.

Psychoblues

 

[NightTrain]

Anyone that's ever been in the military knows what a REMF is.

Ooooops.

 

[Psychoblues]

You are certainly wrong on that accord. Why do you speak in abstracts?

Psychoblues

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by NightTrain
Anyone that's ever been in the military knows what a REMF is.

Ooooops.

Not to mention that if he googles news today, how many hits? Too many hits, that may be the problem...:

 

[Psychoblues]

I think that anyone in the military would also know what an IPB or a GCM would be. They're very common to me and I can't possibly understand why you might not understand, or do you?

Psychoblues

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by Psychoblues
I think that anyone in the military would also know what an IPB or a GCM would be. They're very common to me and I can't possibly understand why you might not understand, or do you?

Psychoblues

www.instapundit.com

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/06/media_still_doe.html

BLACKFIVE WRITES that journalists are making fools of themselves via their ignorance of things military:


The military is not calling back discharged and retired individual soldiers. They are dipping into the Individual Ready Reserve. There is a big difference between calling up IRR soldiers and recalling retired or discharged soldiers.

When you sign a contract to enlist or get a commission, it is generally for EIGHT years. You perform four years of Active Duy, then you have four left in the Reserves or National Guard.


He dissects a number of stories that get it wrong. You know, this kind of thing might have been excusable before, but we've been at war for going on three years. You'd think somebody would have bothered to learn this stuff.

UPDATE: Here's a related post from SgtStryker.com.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Rob Matteo emails:


Kudos for your post from Blackfive and Sgt. Stryker. I am a retired Army Officer and the minute I started hearing the reports of a "backdoor draft" etc. I knew that once again, the press has no clue on all things military. Any soldier would know there is a huge difference.

How is it possible that there is no editor or writer who has ever served in the miltary? Not very representative of our society I'd say.


They've got a diversity problem.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Shaun Evans emails:


It is bad that no journalists have served in the military. But it is
inexecusable to go to press with a story that could have been corrected
with a 15 second google search (including typing the query): Link

Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), a manpower pool in the Ready Reserve,
primarily consists of: Individuals who have had training, have served
previously in the Active component or the Selected Reserve, and have
some period of a military obligation remaining. IRR members are in an
active status, but do not perform regularly scheduled training.


Indeed. It's almost like they want to get it wrong. Meanwhile Dan Williams emails that the confusion is widespread:


It's not just the media getting it wrong. Teachers and parents are taking in the info and passing it to teens. I'm a scout master and deal with a lot of teen boys. Many seem to be convinced that the draft is coming back and the Bush admin is going to draft them all into the military.

I try to explain the politics to them when I get the chance, but it's far more complex than they expect politics to be.

Charles Rangel with his Draft bill ain't a Bushie.


And everybody's happy about that, at least . . . .

posted at 08:50 AM by Glenn Reynolds

 

[Psychoblues]

As you might know, acronyms are commonly used in the military. A single acronym might have many meanings depending on the unit that uses it. You haven't proven anything at all to me. I repeat, do you understand IPB or GCM? I thought not.

Psychoblues

 

[MtnBiker]

Originally posted by freeandfun1
I vote REMF (if anything).

Roger that!