Will this be helpful to me?
- Posted by drosengarden
Posted by drosengarden on October 20, 2001 at 14:11:09:
Hello all! As is probably common with all newbies rip roarin’ and ready to go, I am extremely excited and eagar to start my marketing and INVESTING. I am going home to the IL area, specifically Northwest suburbs and I’m looking out as far west as Elgin. I’ll be staying in Glenview for a time, but hope to find my own place of residence in the process of my activities.
As of tomorrow, for the past 5 monhts, my place of residency has been Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, CA. I was to be a Marine under the Reservist program, and specifically on a 92 day contract. What that basically means is that I was registered for my 2nd year at the Bible School I attend in Elgin (Providence Baptist College of Northwest Bible Baptist Church) and due to this enrollement, I was “guaranteed” to complete basic training during the summer of '01 to graduate no later than August 24 in order to get back to school, uninterrupted. After school year '01-'02, then I was to return to Camp Pendleton for my Marine Combat Traning and then to Kentucky (or was it Oaklahoma?) for Field Artillery Marine Operational Specialty. This second part was to occur in the summer of '02. So in other words, I get a special split training contract so I didn’t miss any school.
Unfortunately, I was injured during boot camp. I developed a severe stress fracture to my right femoral neck bone, compression side. This took me out of training and put me in a Medical Recovery Platoon for 1 day short of 5 weeks. During my stay at MRP, my school start date passed and I was still stuck here, unknowing of my outcome. After all the medical tests and exams, it was determined that I was unfit for duty and a formal hearing should be conducted in order to make offical determination that I am unfit for duty. This hearing would also determine how severe my disability is and rate a certain percentage.
Having been dictated for a Physical Evaluation Board, I was then transferred to a Recruit Separation Platoon and will have been here for exactly 2 months tomorrow. The ortho doctors determined that I should not return back to training (I tried) and to follow through with the board to be discharged from the military. They found me to have low bone density and that I would probably keep breaking if I stayed in the military. the Board process was to take approximately 30 days or so, during which time I have had to conduct physcials, attend classes and transition training, and a counseling session.
Yesterday, my findings came in. I am rated for temporary disability retirement leave with a disability rating of 60%. To me, this means a whole BUNCH of things that are very helpful. I am guaranteed a good cash flow monthly, some or all of it to be tax free and non reportable, a disabled veterans status and access to all the benefits for disabled veterans federally and in the state of Illinois.
The reason I tell you all this is because I’m thoroughly bored here at boot camp and this is about all I have to do for excitement (phone calls and internet - they don’t let me off base!) and because of the one particular VA benefit that could have some major helpful implications for me in my REI activities.
Specifically I’m talking about the VA Home Loan benefit. Under this benefit, I can get a 100% financed, no money down loan to purchase a property (up to four units) that I can qualify for, up to $203,000. Normally, veterans have to pay 3% on the first loan and 2% thereafter as a fee for the gauranty that the VA makes on all these loans (the assure the lender that 25% of the loan will be paid if I default.) As a disabled veteran, all these fees are WAIVED. So for the basic closing costs and whatever bone I’ll need to throw the broker, I can get all cash for the next property I wish to purchse (and live in - it must be owner occupied.)
So, (to all the REI veterans and experts) what kind of ideas does this cause your creative juices to conjure up?)
Thanx for your replies in advance and good investing.
(Please keep the boot camp jokes down to a minimum 
DaveR