» Impulse buys

Kuwaiti Treasure
Apologies for length...

Well, when I was in Iraq a few years ago I was lucky enough to get something called OSD. Operational Stand Down, where 4 lucky guys a week get to go to Kuwait, stay on the American camp and have fun and explore the city (which is very much like Dubai/Qatar).

As it was the first time I'd been out of the desert in 5 months I went a bit overboard with 5 months worth of untouched wages (with overseas extras) in the American PX. We're talking new DSLR's, Lenses, clothes, knives, presents for people, huge cigars, food....new bags to put it all in. I was having a blast.
What I didn't know, is that this was flagged up back in England with my bank as 'strange behaviour' as my card had gone from not being used for so long to being rinsed. What I also didn't know, was that the American ATM's and chip & pin machines on base, were routed through America first, not Kuwait.

I got a phonecall off my dad a few days later (who was managing my mail etc. for me whilst I was away) saying the bank had detected fraudulent activity on my account and someone had been spending my money in Texas.
I didn't click on at first and neither did he. He had already told the bank I was in Iraq, not America and could prove it.

I got back every penny I spent there as the bank assumed it was fraud and got to keep everything.
(Mon 25th May 2009, 16:36, More)

» Banks

Bit of a pea but probably more relevant than the original.
Well, when I was in Iraq a few years ago I was lucky enough to get something called OSD. Operational Stand Down, where 4 lucky guys a week out of the thousands of troops there get to go to Kuwait, stay on the American camp and have fun and explore the city (which is very much like Dubai/Qatar).

As it was the first time I'd been out of the desert in 5 months I went a bit overboard with 5 months worth of untouched wages (with overseas extras) in the American PX. We're talking new DSLR's, Lenses, clothes, knives, Jet-Skiing in the Gulf, presents for people, huge cigars, food....new bags to put it all in. I was having a blast.
What I didn't know, is that this was flagged up back in England with my bank as 'strange behaviour' as my card had gone from not being used for so long to being rinsed. What I also didn't know, was that the American ATM's and chip & pin machines on base, were routed through America first, not Kuwait.

I got a phonecall off my dad a few days later (who was managing my mail etc. for me whilst I was away) saying the bank had detected fraudulent activity on my account and someone had been spending my money in Texas.
I didn't click on at first and neither did he. He had already told the bank I was in Iraq, not America and could prove it.

I got back every penny I spent there as the bank assumed it was fraud and got I to keep everything.

People were telling me the bank would check the CCTV monitoring the cash machine etc. and I'd get found out. I don't think the US Military give out their surveillance tapes willy-nilly though and I imagine the bank would be looking for them on the wrong continent if they did. That's about the only time the bank have done anything in my favour.
(Thu 16th Jul 2009, 21:01, More)

» Tightwads

More necessity than choice...
A few years back I was placed in the Army Glasshouse for going AWOL for a few months. I have never seen such behavior and doubt I will again.

You're weekly budget in there was around £5.16. That would buy you maybe 2 pouches of tobacco, some Rizzla, some matches and maybe a chocolate bar. Smoking was literally the highlight of the day and you can imagine the amount you'd smoke when you're locked up in a room with 7 strangers for 16 hours.
Needless to say, 2 small pouches was not enough to last a week.

I personally drew the line at smoking through monopoly paper when the Rizzla ran out however the other lads took it a bit further.
In there I witnessed people empty and hide the contents of the ashtray so they could extract the remaining shards of tobacco from fag butts to be smoked later on in the week. I saw people go through bins in smoking areas in the rain to salvage more (wet) tobacco and re-roll and smoke them on the spot. The worst one however was...

You know the nicorette inhalators you can get. Like the little plastic cigarettes with a nicotine capsule. Well I saw said capsules smashed open to reveal a hard, nicotine drenched pod which were then rolled up in rizzla and smoked.
I say smoked, however 1 drag was taken each by a few people and they couldn't talk for around 3 hours after. That was rock-bottom.

Another was in Iraq, instead of getting a cake and candles for someones birthday, we melted down some Yorkie bars and Oatmeal blocks from the ration packs, made into a cake shaped block and stuck some lit zippo lighters in there.
...It did the trick.
(Fri 24th Oct 2008, 4:26, More)

» Family Feuds


I have only recently started talking to my family again. We had a huge fall out about 2 years ago when I left the army. I got kicked out after 2 weeks of being back and my step-dad nicked my PS3 which I'd just bought when I returned from Iraq.
The reason I started talking to them again is; as of today, I'm homeless again and have nowhere to go.
We've been talking a bit more over the past month but as soon as I told her what was going off, she stopped replying to emails even though I know she's sat in front of a computer all day. I even get the annoying, viral emails from her still.
I have 6 Aunts and Uncles who don't talk to each other.
So, as far as I'm concerned I have no family. They've been useless throughout my entire upbringing and continue to be to this day.
I'm not saying I had a hard time growing up. I was just very much on my own without guidance and I'm pretty suprised I ended up being a decent person.

My plan tonight is to dig out my old army kit and go and dig in, in some field somewhere.
Could sell my laptop and get a B&B but that's too much of a loss for such a short period and it's my main source of contact/jobs.
Could sell all my camera kit off, but at the moment that's my only source of income and I doubt 'Cash Coverters' have enough in the tills for what it's worth.

Combatcameraman A.K.A Tech_Hobo
(Wed 18th Nov 2009, 13:51, More)

» Unemployed

Another one
I'm spending day 243 of unemployment forwarding some of these to my girlfriend usually accompanied by "See, I'm not the only one struggling"
(Mon 6th Apr 2009, 13:07, More)