A very brief explanation for why I am doing this. I was unemoyed for a bit and struggling very hard. Then a job oportunity in Charleston came my way. It promised to be good money but turned out not to be enough to allow me to have a roof and support my wife and son in Oklahoma. So, tomake certain they were cared for, and to save money for when the contract I was working ended, I stayed in my truck.
Well, turnes out this isnt brief after all. I work as a contractor building aircraft for what ever company finds themselves behind schedual or without a direct labor force. Working in Charleston for the company, I kept being instructed to do things against the engineering drawing. As an aside, in aviation, the engineer is God. His word is the first and last say. Diviation will land you in prison and can and has brought aircraft down in terrifying manners. Now, most were simple things, and some honest mistakes, but I always caught them, and refused with a citation of why. The ethics of the place being so bad, I had to find somewhere else to work.
I got an offer in Stuart Fl, better money than I was making and no state taxes, I took it. Problem is, after quitting my job, and a day before I was to leave for Florida, I got a call saying never mind they lost the contract. Well, now I was unemployed. It was two weeks into being unemployed and no jobs were available anywhere in the country. I was back home in Oklahoma and looking at a notice that said pay the rent or leave on my door. Not knowing how long it would be before I found work, but knowing If we paid rent we would be broke in a month, we bought a camper, arranged with a friend to park it in his back yard and stay in it ( illegal btw in this land of the free but doing it anyway ).
About a week into that I got a job offer in Wichita that I am currently working. I had to borrow $1500 from another friend to buy lots of tools as I had none to do this job. Its a smaller outfit and require you to have your own tools. I have always worked for bigger names. So now, I live under a camper shell on the back of my truck, and my wife and kid live in a bumper pull camper. We are getting along alright, and are saving up all our money now that the bills are reduced and caught up. We are so tired of struggling for years, that if roughing it for a while means a better life in the future, then ok. The money I am making will pay off this house ( its a wreck and condemnable ) I am buying, and leave me the money to make it livable. Which is a good thing, because this contract is only a 3 month job, and it ends Dec 31st, and I wont get to work holidays. But with the current plan, if we live as frugal and simple as we can, after Christmas, we will own a house, it will be fixed up to the point of livable, and have no rent or mortgage. That will reduce our financial strain greatly. Assuming of course, this job last as long as it should. I got a warning yesterday when I pointed out a major section of the fuselage wasnt built to specs. They didnt like that and told me to quit worrying about any work that wasnt my own. If I didnt, My hours would be cut. Man, the ethics in aviation are not what they should be.
Anyways, thats tje long version of why I am doing what I am doing. With luck, after Christmas I will be done.
