Scot Shumski

Focus On Commonalities, Not Differences

August 30, 2021September 2, 2021 Scot Shumski 0 Comments community, military spouse, perspective, tribute

Like many military spouses, a recent trip to the mailbox revealed a letter from the Office of People Analytics (OPA) within the Department of Defense. The letter was a fascinating look into the hundreds of thousands of lives that make up the milspouse tribe.

It was also a bit comical that the letter came with the subheading, “2019 DoD Survey of Active Duty Spouses.”

2019? Most of us are used to the military style of hurry-up-and-wait, but did the Department of Defense really just share findings with me two years after the fact?

Experience Military Life OCONUS PCS

Milspouse Life, A Better Me

July 31, 2021July 31, 2021 Scot Shumski 1 Comment Germany, Military Life, military spouse, OCONUS, PCS

Like many spouses of military servicemen and women, I get caught up in all the reasons why it is not fun to be a military spouse. From deployments, having to spend thousands on hidden costs like the new pinks and greens uniforms and PCS season where essentially everything you own is scooped up into a giant washing machine. And, like a washing machine, everything gets tumbled around, sometimes things are destroyed, and sometimes things are lost (like that one sock).

But while out for a run the other morning at our new duty station, Fort Lee in Virginia, I had time to think about the positive changes military life has brought to me.

Experience OCONUS

American In Germany, Lesson Learned

June 4, 2021June 17, 2021 Scot Shumski 1 Comment Germany, PCS

When I began this three-piece series regarding my time in Germany, I immediately struggled with what I knew would be a conundrum in the final piece. But here’s the surprising lesson I learned stationed in Germany.

Experience OCONUS PCS Travel

What I WILL Miss About Germany

April 30, 2021April 27, 2021 Scot Shumski 4 Comments Germany, OCONUS, PCS

As I near the end of my time living in Germany while my wife serves in the United States Army, this is Part II of a three-part series, examining my thoughts and feelings as I prepare to head back to America and leave Germany behind. Part I examined what I will not miss about Germany and can be found here. Part II, below, examines what I will miss about Germany. Part III examines what I’ve learned during my time in Germany.

Experience OCONUS PCS

What I Will NOT Miss About Germany

March 30, 2021March 24, 2021 Scot Shumski 7 Comments humor, OCONUS, PCS

My wife Jules, myself, and our three children Hunter (12), Eva (10), and Acadia (8) were scheduled to be stationed in Germany for three years, and the way my wife’s Army career was looking, it was possible we could squeeze in a fourth year. Then the military does what it always does, and our world was turned upside down. Jules was selected for a position at Fort Lee in Virginia and our three or four years living and traveling in Europe was cut short to two.

How do I help the children cope with learning that, at 18 months and in six more months, they will once again have to pick up their lives and move? How do I cope with picking up my life and moving at the two-year mark?

Career & Education Experience Household 6

Choosing Battle Lines

March 2, 2021March 5, 2021 Scot Shumski 2 Comments education, military kids

Do you feel defeated choosing battle lines on the virtual learning front with your children over the past year? I have some thoughts on that, but first, how I got there.

Having left Facebook several years ago due to the incivility that was present (how tame those days were), I eventually found my way back to the social media platform. It wasn’t due to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). It wasn’t because I regretted my decision. Hardly.

No, it was because the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, gymnastics, and a host of youth sports teams only communicated to families through Facebook.

Experience Financial Planning

Empower Yourself Through Finance

January 30, 2021January 26, 2021 Scot Shumski 2 Comments finances

From a young age I have loved numbers.

I suspect this passion for numbers contributed to my interest in finance. By the time I turned 15 and had my first W-2 job working as a dishwasher, I was ready to start investing in the stock market.

What a different world it was back in 1987. Back then, there was no discount broker, no online, no internet. There were only full service brokers where you had to stop by your broker’s office or phone them and place your order that came with a commission usually in the $30-50 range per trade.

My first investment was made on Oct. 19, 1987, a day in the investment world known as Black Monday, because the Dow Jones Industrial Average would go on to shed 22.6% of its value in one day.

Experience Household 6

New Year’s Resolutions

December 30, 2020January 1, 2021 Scot Shumski 2 Comments encouragement, holidays

It’s that time of year where we pause our hectic lives and press the imaginary reset button. Of course, we know those reset buttons by their more familiar name, New Year’s resolutions.

Time to say goodbye to the could-have-beens and the should-have-beens for the current year. Time to look forward to the what-could-bes and what-should-bes. I’m talking about a new year. And in a year in which so much was canceled and delayed due to COVID-19, we are all looking forward to the first day of the new year.

Experience

You Can DECIDE To Change Your Life

December 1, 2020December 4, 2020 Scot Shumski 1 Comment

Let me begin by recounting an experience that is probably going to leave your head shaking, especially if you are a military family. Military families understand how to move themselves, their family, and all their belongings across the country and across the world. Part of that process is identifying high dollar value items prior to the move so these items can receive special notation on your moving manifest.

This all seems very obvious and simple.

Until it isn’t.

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