Here's a little bit of information about me that will probably put things in perspective.

I'm 36 years old and currently legally separated from my spouse for the last 2.5 years. I have two beautiful adult daughters (one just got married) and one beautifully rambunctious granddaughter (and another grandchild on the way).

I use to work in a call center for an insurance company (was an agent in 21 different states for auto/home insurance) and later for a bank. After 7 years of working at the bank and 3 years in the same position I received a raise of .98% (it literally only added $600 to my pay at the end of the year).

After taking a look at my life and realizing more things needed to change (by this time I was already separated) I re-started working towards a goal that I had started almost 10 years ago. To join the military.

The reason I did so was because I wanted to have a career and not just a job. I wanted something that I chose and I wanted to be able to retire when I reached retirement age. I no longer wanted to "survive" and I wanted to start living my life. I knew that this was a way for me to move forward despite a certain disadvantage (I currently PAY alimony but that will end in 2016).

I lost a lot of weight (about 60lbs) and joined the U.S. Army Nov 2012. I actually turned 35 years old in basic training (and no I wasn't the oldest person their. i'll leave that to my good friend Sandy who was 51 years old and what we like to call a PT Beast!! she ran the 2-mile run in 16min 30sec!).

After basic I then went to AIT for job training and went to visit my family for 2 weeks after I graduated. I then went to my first duty station and after I arrived I discovered we were deploying to Afghanistan which is where I currently am residing.

The good thing about Afghanistan is that during deployment, I can really pay off bills and accrue savings. The con is that you miss your family terribly. There are a lot of people here that will be debt free when they get back. That will not be me but at least I'll be on the road to being debt free. I know that if I get deployed at least once more that more than likely I will be or VERY close to being free of debt.

I can do this. It's no biggie. Just make a plan and stick to it. Things change and I'll need to be able to roll with the punches. But it's all good. It's my life and I finally feel as if I am in control of it.