Oh and Serotta according to your own NC reference a certified teacher starts at 31k for 10 months work. Now if break that down monthly you end up getting the equivalent of a 37k job if they worked all 12 months. I would say thats alright for a bachelors degree and a cert, wouldnt you? And this is a baseline...

 

Couple of more thoughts:

While I was in Vietnam, I sent my entire paycheck (if memory serves correctly, less than 100 dollars a month) to a military savings account that accrued around 12% interest. (used it to buy a new car when I got out.) I didn't need money in the military, got three meals a day, all medical, clothing, etc. from Uncle Sam. The more money I had in my pocket, they more I ran a chance of using it for gambling, booze or women. Even the enlisted mans liquor store (E-6) sold 5ths for 50 cents or a dollar. Earlier, the military sent me to engineers school at Ft. Belvoir, VA for advanced training. Then they sent me to an infantry unit in Vietnam. Still, when my service was coming to an end, they offered me several thousand dollars to re-inlist at the stated engineering MOS even though I hadn't used it once while in Nam. I got my discharge, took all my combat medals, and military experience and got spit on in California as I came back into country. Uncle Sam paid me GI bill money to go back to school and finish my degree requirements. $385 dollars a month to go back to school, I was glad to have it, that and a full time second shift job at United Parcel service in the back of a tractor trailer stacking boxes paid my way to getting a better job and a better life for my family.
There were benefits that made that skimpy pay more than it showed on paper. Did I think it was worth it? Hell No! Am I glad I had the experience? Hell Yes! Now that I'm alive and sane enough to remember it all.

 

not to hijack this thread but being as young as I am (25) it blows my mind everytime I hear this and it makes me sick. How the hell could people do that? Everyone who went regardless of whether they were drafted or signed up deserves so much better. On a lighter note, at least John Kerry didn't throw your medals over a fence instead of his own.

Thanks for your service Serotta (and all you other vets and active duty military on this board), sounds like you are a good and honorable man. Thanks for doing your part in DC EddyG88. Me, I just work towards more effective toothpaste and mouthwash (I have to admit feeling a little inadequate here guys...)

 

Serotta I in no way dishonor your service and you did do your part. Thank you for your work. I can see how money was pointless for a single young guy over there.
Hey Fatman, thats the beauty of our country, everybody is doing their part, military or not. Now make me some beef flavored mouthwash boy! lol

 

88, You're skipping around to National Board certified salary... go back over to the bachelor's degree, where most teachers in NC enter the pay scale. Venture to say most military doesn't enter with that kind of degree and educational debt either. ( Athough that means nothing for the sake of this topic.)

Yep, I read it again, still says the same thing.. bitching about low pay, bad hours, poor benefits..... Nothing about comparing job descriptions.

I totally agree with you, different jobs, no comparison of the job, shouldn't be compared in the same sentence, maybe not the same paragraph, maybe not even the same Chapter. I was just comparing the mindset, the thought process of the two groups. Nothing un-patriotic about it as you would believe. Just a good ole' boy making a statement about the similarities in complaints from two widely diverse groups of employees.

 

Don't.
Whenever you do, just remember I'm around.

 

Tell you what 66, (I just can't bring myself to call you Fatman.) My medals are all in a series of shadow boxes framed at my Mother's house. She did it the week I got home (Jan. 70) and they ain't moved since. I'll hate it when she dies someday, 'cause then I'll have to find room for them here at the house. Don't know whether I want to face them daily, but they sure as hell ain't goin' in a closet to collect dust.

Tell you what 88, I may have a minor semantic disagreement with you, but I sure respect your spirit and initiative. I think we're on the same side of the fence, just a little pasture between us. Sorry about that cheapshot growup comment!

 

Kerry played a HUGE role in getting people to spit on Vietnam vets with his LIES and BS he spewed out of his mouth for political gains...

Kerry is a DISGRACE to all service members, vets and active duty...

 

serotta came home in Jan 70, same as Kerry and Kerry didn't protest the war until six months after his return.

So, Kerry didn't get serotta spat on.
That's not what Kerry was trying to accomplish anyway.
He was trying to keep serotta's younger brother from getting spat on in 1976 or 1978.

Anybody in their right mind knows that ten years is long enough for a war. If you can't "win the peace" in 10 years it's time to re-think.

If we are still bleeding in Iraq in 2013, I'll be protesting too.
I'm already protesting in November with my vote.

 

Well, I was going to ignore it, but Raoul you've made me tell the "hole" truth and nothing "butt" the truth.

Kerry was actually sitting two rows in front of me on that Flying Tigers airliner back in Jan. 70. He got off and absentmindedly spit over his shoulder as he went down the gangway. The overspray got me on the left side of my face, hence my propensity to lean to the right ever since.

 

FOX News would pay big bucks for that info...
Kerry began war protest before feet even reached US soil

Now, if you still have a famous 'stained blue dress' to back up this claim of yours, you could soon be a household name.

 

Raoul, You know I hate to correct you, but I think you are confusing me with Corporal Maxwell (Monica) Q. Klinger that served with Kerry and Me in Vietnam, but gained his fame previously in the Korean War. He would be the one that has knowledge of the "stained blue dress". No doubt Kerry will deny any wrongdoing with Monica Klinger, but there are witnesses:
Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce
Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre
Captain B. J. Hunnicutt
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake
Colonel Sherman T. Potter
Corporal "Radar" O'Reilly
Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan
Major Charles Emerson Winchester III
Father Francis Mulcahy

Sadly Colonel Henry Blake lost his life when his plane went down on the way out of country, I don't believe he documented any knowledge he had of Corporal Monica Klinger and Kerry.

 

Dont think of your vote as a protest to the war, you really need to make a wise decision and go for the guy thats actually going to do our country better. To me Bush is the lesser of two evils and nothing to make a monument out of, but I dont think Kerry can do our country any good. I get in discussions about Kerry Bush all the time here since thats what everyone wants to talk about. Seems like more and more Kerry people are switching sides the more they learn about him. All I can say is do your research, and look past all the negative bs slander at Bush (and Kerry) and actually see who's more of the straight shooter with our country his primary focus.

Serotta, no hard feelings, glad you are on my side of the fence, thought you were bashing at first and I dont take kindly to that. Always good to get in a rant with someone though. Oh and that pasture between us...half is mine and your dog keeps *****ting on it.

 

No wonder your side looks greener! The rat-basturd, I feed him and he fertilizes your side! Wish he was a cat, then 01 would take care of him for me.

 

How could you forget Maj. Frank Burns? I think that Captains Pierce and McIntyre were probably too drunk to remember but you might be able to prove that John Kerry stole Captain Hunnicutt's bronze star to throw over the fence at the Capitol building instead of his own...