Contact!

MAP called last night. He was too tired (it was late in the sand) to have a really good conversation; he gets pretty grumpy when he hasn't had his beauty rest. But it was good to hear from him.
One point of our conversation touched on money. We're trying to get his money into something that earns a good interest rate; something he was "too busy" to do before he deployed. He was also advised not to give us (or anyone) power of attorney before he left, complicating things to many degrees.
Sadly, it's all too common to have soldiers become targets when they're earning that base pay plus combat pay. On the easiest level, someone gets access to an account and just spends the money while the soldier is gone. With power of attorney, debts can be signed for that the soldier had no intention of taking on. There is even a lovely scam where a returning soldier meets someone he or she thinks is the love of their life. Love needs help with money; money is given. Before long, the soldier is out of money, and Love decides the "feelings just aren't there." Parents I know have done the research to find out that, in their situation, Love was wandering from post to post, looking for returning soldiers to scam. This is not an isolated incident. Their son lost $30,000; others have lost other large sums, and "bought" cars they never see!
I've heard it said that today's soldiers have a little advantage over those from, say, the Vietnam era. At lest many of us are paying lip service to welcoming them home and being grateful. Some of us really mean it, though.