I Joined the Military for the Discount — but Left It a Different Man
Chasing a deal left me out of a job, but not all was lost
My family is addicted to deals.
Momma McCall taught me the importance of garage sale hunting and that you can always haggle — to make a good deal a little better. My 22-year-old sister taught me how to run a business and side hustle, thanks to her online clothing resale shop. But my dad, an Army chaplain of 15 years, introduced us to the holy grail of savings: the military discount.
Thriftiness isn’t just a quality in the McCall family; it’s a gene. And nothing is more precious than our military discount. Having a dad in the military meant we all received an ID that granted us access to over 800 bases and opened up an entirely new world of savings.
Our military discount has taken us to Busch Gardens, which gives military families one free day a year. We even traveled to New York City via NJ Transit, which allows you to pay senior citizen prices with a valid military ID.
This cycle of utilizing my military ID to its fullest went on until the day of my college graduation. While my classmates sat glowing and eager to start the next phase, to me, graduation felt like a funeral service. I was no longer a dependent; my military ID was no…
