With change being an inevitable element in our lives, we have only two options. Either embrace it and live life to the fullest or be stuck in the comfort zone of a compromised life.” ~Mohith Agadi
It has been too long! I am writing this reflection now amidst Hurricane Ian pushing north through the Carolinas. No worries, though, we are held up safely in our new North Carolina home in Fort Bragg. Our thoughts and prayers are with those families and individuals adversely affected by this Hurricane.
What an action packed month it has been since my last entry. Team Clas has successfully relocated to the setting of the next chapter in our military journey, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We had an amazing working vacation in Chicago and were able to visit with family we haven’t seen for months during this time. It’s always a great experience when our kids can be spoiled by their grandparents and aunts and uncles as well as mix it up with their cousins. This short stint at our hometown was not without its friction points.
The Struggle
Moving as a family approximately 4,300 miles across the Atlantic Ocean does not come without significant challenges. In less than a month we were packed up from our home in Wiesbaden, Germany, and on our way to Fayetteville, North Carolina, with a three week pit-stop in Chicago, Illinois. in classic Clas fashion, our stay in Chicago also served as a business trip for the family business, Class Capital Investing.
Anything lost can be found again, except for time wasted. A vision without action is merely a dream. Action—it’s the grind, it’s the hustle, it’s the persistence.” ~Kevin Gates
Everyday Hustle
One thing my wife, Claudia, is not is lazy. Even on vacation, Claudia, is always searching the real-estate market for the next great business venture. She has procured a few investment properties, as a real-estate investor since 2020, and her method of buy, rehab, refinance, and repeat is a continuous process. Claudia and our family focused on maintenance and acquiring an additional property while in Chicago and it is also setting conditions for me to be the property manager of Class Capital Investing for life after I retire from the military. We are now a couple of weeks away from closing on our most recent acquisition, further growing the family business in real-estate. Most industry leaders agree that real-estate is the best way to build generational wealth.
Lessons Learned
As I prepare to sign-in to my next gig next week, I definitely want to share a few insights I learned working through an overseas permanent change of station with a family of four. Claudia and I did our due diligence in our ASCOPE (Area, Structure, Capabilities, Organizations, People, and Events) analysis prior to our arrival in North Carolina. Pay-to-play, over-communication, and trust, but verify are three best practices to implement while in a transitional phase.
Priorities of work
The number one priority in our move to our next duty station was ensuring our kids were registered and the the transfer from each of our kids schools went as seamless as possible. Our son’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) was not left to chance by any means, and neither was the time to open lines of communication between the schools administrators and our kids teachers. I took a week just to ensure the kids adapted smoothly to their new classes and a they understood their new battle-rhythm from bus pick-up to after-school snack and homework window.
Our second priority was essential goods and services. We were fortunate enough to acquire internet through T-mobile’s 5G Home Internet option reducing time for installation and cost. Additionally, we were able to re-establish our Walmart App Grocery Pick-up tactic, which was not an option at our last duty station. Time is an important commodity. When I was young the ambition was for money, material goods, and prominence, but now, time is more precious than any of the aforementioned illusions.
It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
Our tertiary consideration, was quality of life in our home until our furniture arrives. To make everyone aware of our shipping times, it will take us 60 days to receive the privately owned vehicle we shipped and 90 days to receive our furniture and additional house-hold goods. This means that we are living the broke college student lifestyle until our stuff arrives. We did our best to purchase a vehicle that should have been waiting for us when we arrived from Military Auto Source (MAS), but that course of action (COA) fell through. Now we are executing the extended rental COA, which, to be fair, MAS did give us a $1,000 voucher for the rental in the interim. In the end, moving will always be expensive, no matter how hard you try to alleviate cost on the back end. On a brighter note, we have been fortunate enough to find a new gym to continue our family jiu-jitsu journey.
Curing Phase
Earlier this week, I reached out to a a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu academy near us, ZR Team North Carolina. The professor welcomed me to join for a free trial class and I trained at his academy Wednesday and Thursday, Sep. 27-28. The vibe was family-oriented with a high priority on preparation for competition. I feel like I made up for the time-off the mats during our vacation, in just two days, and the team members were encouraging after their submissions. Can’t wait to get the Clas Clan in the gym to keep our skills up. Looking forward to writing this next chapter. One team, one family! ~Doc
Post-script
The featured image is Fort Bragg’s The Airborne Trooper, Iron Mike statue. Sculpted by Leah Hiebert in 1960 and 1961, using Sergeant Major James Runyon as a model, the statue depicts a World War II-era Airborne trooper with a Thompson submachine gun at the ready. The statue was not named for any one man or unit, but rather dedicated to all paratroopers; past, present, and future.