Yeah, maybe he should try acting as if! Actually Sunday night I told him to just go in with a positive attitude. He told me yesterday that he really tried to do that but just couldn't. I don't think it is the job, I think it is the interaction with people. He is very insecure and thinks that people are constantly judging him. He takes things that people say WAY to personally and WAY to seriously. He always feels like an outsider. I did talk to him last night on the phone and he said he would try the positive attitude thing again. I saw something on someone else's thread about a book called "Learned Optimism". I am thinking about going by the bookstore and checking it out.
Being there could be part of his hesitation, but I don't think that is the big part of it. That is what he was doing before he joined the AF. Now he says he wasted the past six years because he is back doing the exact same thing. I think his hesitation is more about being embarassed that he couldn't find a better job. He is older than the majority of the people that work there and he feels people are judging him for that.
I agree that you make more money in the military when everything is factored in. A good portion of his check wasn't taxed and the benefits were great. Right around the time the bomb was dropped he was making the decision of reenlisting or getting out. I was pushing him to stay in because at the time I wasn't making much money and I knew we couldn't make it on my income alone. We had made a deal that if I could find a better paying job in AL then he would quit...if I couldn't he would stay in. Sometimes I worry that my pushing is what made him leave but he says that it wasn't. I wish I had been more understanding of his desire to live a "normal" life.
Well, turns out I found a better paying job only he had already left. I decided that if I didn't take the job because of him, I would regret it for the rest of my life. I also knew if things did work out and I hadn't taken the job, I would probably resent him for it...so I picked up and moved to AL. The day I left I really thought it would be the last time I would see him.
