Posted on 01/11/2014 5:32:00 AM PST by Carriage Hill
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — After a 30-year military career in which he earned three graduate degrees, rose to the rank of colonel, and served as an aide to Pentagon brass, Robert Freniere can guess what people might say when they learn he's unemployed and lives out of his van:
Why doesn't this guy get a job as a janitor?
Freniere answers his own question: "Well, I've tried that."
Freniere, 59, says that his plea for help, to a janitor he once praised when the man was mopping the floors of his Washington office, went unfulfilled. So have dozens of job applications, he says, the ones he has filled out six hours a day, day after day, on public library computers.
So Freniere, a man who braved multiple combat zones and was hailed as "a leading light" by an admiral, is now fighting a new battle: homelessness.
(Excerpt) Read more at yorkdispatch.com ...
Could you apply for positions such as office manager in a private physician practice?
“My guess is a very bitter, bitter woman that is very highly pissed off and full of revenge.”
... and a couple of (richer) lawyers happy to “help” each side in their struggle as it escalated...
50% of his retired pay goes to his ex. Couple that with paying for college tuitions plus any other long term debt he may have had, and cost of living where he is at puts him in his current situation.
Sounds like the dude has severe mental illness. He needs to check into the nearest VA hospital. Apparently his two former wives think that he is ill. Typical media BS story!
Two threads from a few days ago if anyone is interested in reading the comments thereon.
From the Pentagon to life in a van
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3108850/posts?page=73
Retired Air Force Colonel With Three Graduate Degrees Is Homeless And Sleeps In A Van
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3108989/posts?page=53
This story is largely Freniere’s first person account, simply transcribed by the “journalist”. She apparently made little attempt to verify his claims with McChrystal, Hogg, or others he says he knows. Perhaps he is confabulating (a characteristic of mental disorder). If so, the paper did Freniere no favors by publishing this story.
that is truly depressing
This is more common every day.
A lot of businesses do not want to hire over 50
Unfortunately you have a lot of Business Socialists who like to crap on your fellow hard working Americans
that explains it
I don't see any.
Ah, there is the rub. I have tried that route and been told that I need at least a year of office experience. Either i am over qualified or under qualified. I haven’t given up looking, but it’s getting to the point where I just want to throw up my hands.
No, he gets his pension immediately after retirement. With Social security you have to wait until you’re 65.
A little applied financial advice from Dave Ramsey could help solve the issue. The man is not without some steady income to work with.
I met a guy at the gym who was living out of a big GM four-door enclosed truck with a golden retriever. The gym was 24 hour access and he’d come in and use the facilities and then sleep in the truck in the parking lot. Don’t think he was a vet, but he said he was an RN. The truck was registered and therefore insured. I don’t know how he handled the cops who would certainly cruise through the otherwise empty lot at night. The truck was there all by its lonesome the few times I drove past the gym after hours.
Something struck me as not quite right as an RN should be able to find work in Florida unless there was a problem that prevents hiring; drug use or alcohol, for example.
It seems a precarious life and just one step above being out on the street. I wondered where he got the money for gas, license, insurance and the like. I wonder how many are that close to the edge who really don’t want to be. (Most homeless are that way because of a mental issue. Once I sat waiting for a light and watched a homeless guy viciously try to kill with his fists somebody he could see but who was not, in fact, there. I pity the person who happens to accidently occupy the space he thinks has his enemy in it. It would have been funny, if not so scary.)
Those two large metal medallions represent significant time at the five-sided puzzle palace as a staff weenie, add in the time for the graduate degrees and there’s just no time left to engage an enemy beyond the advancing front of paperwork. Bet his various job descriptions included multiple references to “supporting the warfighter” to make it sound very martial.
This story was posted on FreeRepublic.com last week.
The question most people asked was what does he does with his military pension. If the story is true, he should be making $7,500 a month or so. That’s quite a bit more than my wife and I both live on in our retirement and we do just fine.
Something’s not right about this story. Something’s missing.
It was? Doesn’t come up on FR’s search function by this article’s name.
$7,500/mo is a nice check.
“Military wives receive part to half of the retirement..”
You mean military divorcees, thanks to that worthless hater of all things military, Congressthing Patsy Schroeder.
I would definitely keep trying that route. Maybe there are classes at a local community college, or a reputable university with online programs, on office management? Anything that would show your commitment would put you at an advantage.
Also, many health insurers have case manager positions, or even phone lines where members can call (or internet chat) to have routine medical questions answered by a medical professional. It seems like such jobs would be options.
Whatever you do, don’t give up! There really are many options today for people with disabilities that did not exist 10-15 years ago.
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