Michael Rotondo; When it’s time to go
Green Thumb sends us a link to the story of Michael Rotondo in Camillus, New York whose parents thought that it was time for the thirty-year-old to start a new life on his own and not in their house;
In filings to the court last week, parents Christina and Mark Rotondo said they’ve been trying to get their son to leave their home for several months.
The filing includes five written notices that the couple said it has left for Michael, starting with this note on Feb. 2:
2 February 2018
Michael,
After a discussion with your Mother, we have decided you must leave this house immediately. You have 14 days to vacate. You will not be allowed to return. We will take whatever actions are necessary to enforce this decision.
Mark and Christina Rotondo
It took a judge to get it through Michael’s thick skull that his parents want him out.
Rotondo was frustrated with the judge and said in court Tuesday that he didn’t think the judge fully read the case.
He said it sounded like the judge said he needed to leave the home immediately, but Rotondo told reporters after the court appearance that “that’s just ridiculous.”
“It seems to me like I should be provided with, you know, 30 days or so, because generally you get 30 days after you’re found, you know, to have to vacate the premesis,” Rotundo said. “So I’m expecting something like that. But realistically, if that’s not the case, I don’t know.”
Of course, Rotondo plans to appeal the judge’s decision.
Category: Who knows
What a lenin wanna be douche! of course, it seems like a parenting fail that they 1. raised such a useless POS, and 2. let him stay there this long. Sure would be nice if the cops just followed him home from the courthouse, watched him clean out his shit, and wave goodbye..
I’m not sure parents can be blamed totally for how their kids turn out while I agree that should never had let him stay so long. Speaking as a father of 2 grown kids I’d have to say that while we are one of the influencers of our children we must face the fact that our kids grow up with a lot of influence from others they know, the media etc and form opinions and lifestyles very different from our own people have agency and Many rebel against the life and views of our parents. God knows it took me a while to realize that my father actually was the wisest man I’d ever met . I love the quote from Mark Twain ” when I was 14 years old I thought my father was the dumbest man on the face of the earth. When I turned 21 I was amazed at how much that man had learned in 7 years”. Too many variables out there to say wether or not a good parent will raise a good kid. Any more than a good NCO is not an indicator that one or more of his young troops won’t get NJP or worse. Just my two cents.
Spot on NCF, I did over generalize a bit. I am a father of two as well, and I have some issues with my son, but my daughter is the sad one. she grew up with her mom(we divorced when she was a baby), and since we life half a country apart, I didn’t have as much time with her as i’d have liked. Unfortunately, college, and a young husband (who’s a good, if misguided guy) that believes everything his union tells him, without doing any fact checking, along with spending too much time on social media with my idiot siblings( another matter, though even my father, who was much like yours apparently, will admit that there were areas in which he failed, especially warning all of us about the dangerous influences in the world) So you’re right, there’s only so much we can do as parents, and being human, we all fail to one extent or another..
Sounds like our stories are very similar. My children live half a country away also I also divorced when they were young. Both have chosen different paths for themselves. My son has had run ins with the law. But is trying to get his life straight due to the fact he is about to be a first time father. My daughter graduates HS this week and def has her own ideas about life and a way different lifestyle than mine and that’s ok. I really tried to be there for them and it was difficult being stationed elsewhere in the Army. But I made due. My dad also had his share of issues partly because he never came back from Vietnam quite the same. I grew to respect him for they way he handled adversity. He too would admit his shortcomings . But all that took a backseat when he was diagnosed with Agent Orange related cancer. Before he died at the age of 57. I saw him one last time it was sad but I took solace in the fact that there was nothing left unsaid between us. I thanked for his wisdom and love. And patience with me. He’s buried at Fort Benning post cemetery I’m gonna pay him a visit this weekend.
Sorry for your loss NCF, I am lucky to still have my dad around. We get together now and then, it’s sad to see him age, but that’s life right? (he’s 75 now). While there’s no question that Vietnam changed him, luckily he didn’t suffer the way some Vets did. I think the biggest way he failed as a father, was that he and y mother never talked politics with us. I men they did a good job of teaching us right from wrong, but never told u about the insidious socialist / communist ideas and actions that the left supports. Being a history buff, and loving to read, I found these things out for myself, but my siblings just went off to college, and swallowed all the crap they were fed by their professors.. While y son hates it when I go on a political rant, I’d like to think that even though he doesn’t like it, the concepts stick for him.. based on choices he’s made, and his strong support for the 2nd Amendment, I’d say it’s working at least a littFle..
I have a 46 year old nephew that is this guys long lost brother. It took both parents death to finally move him out.
I myself have a 51 year old First Cousin who still lives with his Mom and they both mooch of of whatever Government handouts they can get, the only job he ever really had for any length of time was at Wal Mart over thirty years ago.
What a punk
Judge should have called him to the bench and had the bailiff punch him repeatedly in the junk until he said, “I’ll leave, I’ll leave”
I know one too. 26 year old that his mother keeps giving him money because, things are so tough. How else can he buy cigs, dope, DirecTV, etc. Even paid for a house, that he destroyed. Drives her car, frequently without oil in it. I could go on and on.
I’m proud of myself that I’ve restrained myself from kicking him in the balls (if he has any). But it is as much her fault.
They are everywhere.
That’s not a “failure to launch”…..that’s just failure period.
And he’s a breeder?
I pity his offspring.
Remove the hippie glasses.
Shave his head and facial area.
What the hell, shave his legs and chest too.
Welcome to Fort Dix!
It would make a great sequel: “Michael Rotondo meets Gunny”
Oh FFS.
This idiot is obviously a pathetically useless snowflake, but his parents also own a large part of this for letting this situation get to this point.
He can have 30 days to “vacate the premises” if he gets a USMC regulation high-and-tight haircut, shaves off that beard, takes a bath (with soap), and starts aggressively seeking full-time employment immediately.
And no more internet access and/or video games in the basement, either.
hell yeah, his parents should have started by locking down internet in the house.. that alone would probably send him into a tail spin..
Now that he’s getting press I’m sure he’ll make out after his book deal gets circulation.
I want to give this man-child some advice before his 15 minutes of fame inflates his hair:
Eat a dick, buddy.
To be fair I concur that his parents are more to blame. Looks to me like they just caved from outside influence and gave him the ultimatum.
That doesn’t excuse a 30 year old from understanding he’s a bit behind the curve. Being within the same age bracket I can somewhat relate:
I lived with my folks for a few years during college after my discharge. I had to find work after my mom passed and put my degree on hold.
Before all that and on the day I moved in I wanted to be out on my own again, though. Yea, I know it’s normal-ish now for twenty-somethings to live with their parents while they find work. I don’t believe that’s a good excuse for the ones I know who still live with their parents after we graduated high school in 2004. The reasons I hear make me want to uproot a maple and beat some “maybe it’s you” into them.
There is a solution: Have them try living like they do with my father for a month. The bill for my dad’s next heart valve and bottle of Maker’s Mark will go directly to the parents. Condition of dependent upon return may vary or perish.
It very well may now be “normal” for adult children to live with their parents, but it sure wasn’t in my neighborhood back in the day. You graduated from HS then and moved out within days or hours, if you had not already done so. If you were college bound the next fall, maybe you remained with the parents but worked all summer and contributed rent and food to the family.
Single girls were sometimes cut more slack, but they still supported the family in other ways.
Yeah, poverty is such a thing these days that families can afford to have slackers living in their basements? Then they must not be very poor.
Because “the system, man..”
Yea, I didn’t have much luck finding avionics jobs in my neck of the woods (BFE Pennsylvania) but there were plenty of grocery stores hiring and tided me over until I got an electronics job (and later a better electronics job).
These kids never had “Try, fail, try again, repeat” instilled, I guess. There are much more painful lessons to learn so why not give that one a go?
Exactly, that’s how it was with us. I graduated high school in the late ’80’s, and was out of the home not long after high school graduation.
Yep, my parents rule (at the time, they got softer with my younger siblings) was as long as I was in school (college included) I could live there rent free. As soon as I was done with school (or decided to drop out of college), It was pay rent, or hit the door… that being said, I did as OWB said, i worked over the summer, then left for college, and never returned (to live, i visited often)
Yep, this clown clearly has issues but none that the rest of us should be compelled to address.
Get a job. Live on the streets – I just don’t care, Mikey. Whatever you decide, you own it.
I’m sure once he’s out of the house he’ll be bawling about how bad life sucks for him because he doesn’t have Prospective Employers banging on his door begging him to work for them for a $15 an hour starting wage.
Dad: “Son, the fridge is off limits to you. I am donating your bed to Goodwill. You may not use the stove or the microwave. Whatever is in your closet will be in tubs in the backyard tonight. I have entered a password in the TV for viewing any shows. I will not share the password with you. You rarely shower, so that won’t be a problem in denying the shower’s use to you.”
Son: “Are you trying to tell me something?”
I didn’t have to go this far with my offspring, as they moved out on their own after high school. But once they were gone for a few years, we repurposed their bedrooms, so that now there is “no room at the inn.” But I have friends and family members who have adult children living at home well into their 30’s and 40’s. My BIL has a son residing almost continuously with him into the son’s 50’s; now that is an extreme “failure to launch.”
Here is the video of the parents confronting him.
This loser should have to join the Infantry.
He would last about 30 seconds. He couldn’t even last in my beloved Signal Corps.
“my beloved Signal Corps”
Amen brother. He would be dragged thru hell for a long time and suffer a slow death.
Running a few miles of
CX-11230/G would kill this corpulent atrocity. That’s a win.
Problem solved.
-no-.
I concur. Really any branch. Judges should restart offering enlistment as an option. Go learn some discipline, self-reliance, and serve a couple years.
You want to stop the so-called “high school to prison pipeline”, start right there.
Six years recruiting in Chicago in the 70’s. On the way to visit a suburban school, Station Cdr asked me to swing by police station to run police check on his applicant.
Chief met me at the desk and took the info and went to the files and pulled out a thin folder. He looked at me and asked what he wanted to do in the Army. Told him he wanted to go Airborne Infantry. He signed the card “no record”, threw the folder in the trash and told me to give him his regards and best wishes.
He ended up Distinguished Honor Graduate.
I’m sure that happened to a number of young Men who got the boot in the ass they needed from the US Army.
Is any military branch going to want this pathetic 30 year old snowflake, even if he wasn’t way too close to being considered too old for induction into the service?
He would be more trouble than he’s worth!
He could always go into the Human Mine Detector Platoon.
How about pulling targets on the hand grenade range?
Give him a wooden SKS and make him a reactive Fig.11
He would be worth the cost just to see it happen. Hell, put me in for a couple hundred.
Unfortunately, the military isn’t what it used to be. The snowflake syndrome has bleed into the military. Try to straighten them out the old school way and you’ll get accused of “creating a hostile working environment”. I’ve had situations where senior NCOs would side with whiny brat Specialists who had disrespected their seniors, who got their ass chewed out over it, and who retaliated by running to a senior NCO to cry fowl.
Now it’s, “It’s 85% influence and persuade and 15% rank”. That has a chance of working when those going up the ranks had effectively been torn down and built right back up, who have their head in the game. But, when you have those that enjoyed the “softness” and “laxness” at basic that would be unthinkable in the last century, who are strong in narcissism, who expect things to go their way, who feel that the military has to adjust to them, and not the other way around, it becomes a way to enable poor discipline and spoiled brat treatment expectation.
I suppose that’s true. It wouldn’t fix the irreparables, but I still think it’d help a large percentage get over themselves.
Agreed. I had NCOs who would use creative correctional training to change behavior and now its taboo.
An example: Back in the 80s I was late to formation a couple times, my Squad Leader made me wear one of those government issued wall clocks around my neck with a long string to remind me what the time was. Every now and then he would ask me what time it was and I had to sound off for everyone.
I had to wear that sucker for a few days. I didn’t complain, I wore it like a badge of honor and I can assure you the message sunk in.
Now it’s considered hazing and an NCO would be written up. Sad times.
Lazy, entitled feeling shitheads don’t likely do well at AIT, even if they survive basic, I would think even now. I can’t imagine PFC Manning surviving my alma mater, the Infantry School aka the Benning School for Wayward Boys.
My younger brother went through Infantry OSUT in 2013. They were allowed to use their cell phones during basic, their drill sergeants couldn’t yell at them, and many of the old school style of discipline and training was replaced with a kinder gentler version of engagement.
No way, seriously? Like only when they get to call home or if they get some liberty? Or do they get to use them daily?
I remember in the mid-2000’s going on a 5 day wing exercise and there was a kid who was going through physical withdrawal (shaking, sweats, etc.) from being disconnected from his online game (EverQuest or World of Warcraft or whatever. I imagine it’s only worse now. I can tell you after being a street cop, even as you’re giving a kid a ticket for texting, they are texting while you explain it.
Hey Michael, here’s some advice –
I don’t know this clown, but he strikes me as that one person at family gatherings (and at least one exists in almost every family) who likes to “hold court” and spout off opinions to reflect his “expertise” regarding any subject being discussed.
The world doesn’t owe this stank-ass hippy a living. Get a shower, haircut, job, and a LIFE!
I’ll go way out on a limb and say he was an enthusiastic Bernie supporter.
Nah…. he wanted to suckle at the tit of mama Cankles McPantsuit.
He is likely the typical sparkle-pony millennial who is looking for a “free ride” to go along with all his participation trophies. As my Dad once told my sister, “Stop complaining about him (adult son living at home), you created this monster.” I was on a visit to my sister once when my nephew was in junior high. She and her husband were doing his math homework for him while he played video games in his room.
Hey, he’s nothing more than the panhandling stray calico that shows up for meals AM & PM. Yes, I know: if I stop feeding her, she’ll go away.
I could not wait to leave home, but I did so when my mommy couldn’t stop me, on my 21st birthday. I only went back for a brief spell after my 2nd tour, when money got tight and I was job hunting and in school again, and finally got a job a few months later. Never went back.
I do not understand these mentally lazy toads. He’s just a slacker and a bum. Nothing else.
But they should have told him ‘join the Army or else we change the locks on the door’. Might have snapped him out of his complacency.
And they should sell that house, dump the furniture, and hit the road in an RV and not look back.
Actually, it goes without saying that the parents are doing him a favor.
If he is forced to be out on his own in his own digs, he will develop some confidence and dare I say it… maybe even have a lady friend over.
Is he one of these “incels” that the Internet is all abuzz about?
“Incel”??? Please define that. Thanks!
Made up words by brainless morons don’t impress me at all.
I’m not fully versed on this particular leftist drivel, despite apparently having been one for a few years in my 20’s.
“Incel” refers to involuntarily celibate. People who want to fornicate but are repulsive in some physical or emotional way and thus unable to find a mate.
I guess the constant rejection and lack of self-esteem incels experience causes them to snap and shoot places like schools up.
Yeah, liberal BS. Everyone needs a label of some sort.
(unfortunately) I learned about that one myself today. Incel stands for involuntarily celibate, aka young men without the social skills needed to successfully enter in a relationship with a girl. I believe this has a strong connection to the concept of the “friend zone”, although individuals self-identifying as incel might not even get that far. Apparently being incel is a frequent motive for school shooters.
If so, unstated… however, this asshole Muzzie guy who recently went amok in Montreal is one. They firmly believe in a feminist conspiracy to deprive them of their God-given right to use women for sex as they please, and apparently there are on-line forums where they discuss how da Man – well, in this case da WoMan – keeps ’em down (and unlaid.) It’s all a conspiracy and has nothing to do with their social ineptness. The things you learn while hanging out with a collegian studying that kind of stuff…
Marc Lepine in ’89??? Hardly recent
See definitions/examples above, PH. There is apparently a large online community of these male millennial losers. Unfortunately, they sometimes go berserk and start murdering females and anyone else in their path. The Santa Fe, TX shooter would likely identify with him, since rejection by a girl he had the hots for likely triggered the school shooting. She was the first person he murdered.
Thank you for the insight.
Masculinity is not toxic.
Those who do not have it are toxic.
Mikey doesn’t have it. On top of that, he’s a dork.
“maybe even have a lady friend over”
He already has two “lady friends”.
The Hand sisters, Left and Right.
Good ol’ Palmela Handerson and her five little sisters. 😉
Rosy Palm and her 5 sister.
Mary Palmer.
Grosssss!!!
I doubt that he ever washes his hands! That is just disGUSTing!!!
Michael – Where ya been all your life? An Orgy?
Listening to Mick Jagger records and bad-mouthing your country, no doubt.
Mick Jagger and the Stone would undoubtedly trigger this creampuff, especially the toxic masculinity oozing from “Under My Thumb.”
Keith Richards’ guitar riff beginning “Start Me Up” would be enough by itself to make him curl up in a fetal position, crying and sucking his thumb. Listening to the whole tune might put him in a coma.
I doubt he has even a faint idea who Mick could possibly be.
I am an enigma.
If the parents really wanted him gone, why play these games with him? In the house and you don’t want him there? Sounds like trespassing to me. Broke-dick car in the driveway? Tow that fucker. Judge said he was impressed with this asshole’s legal research. Betcha he wasn’t going to the library every day. Cut the internet. Not “communicating”? Then he wont have to ask why there is a lock on the refrigerator. I would suggest changing the locks on the front door, but it appears he only leaves home to get the oil changed in his hair.
Someone please inform me if domestic laws in this area prohibit any of the above. Thank you.
Impressed in the Bernathian sense.
Seriously, unless he can prove a disability (which he can’t, he’s just a lazy little fuck) his parents have no obligation to raise or support him past the age of 18.
(And yeah, I was on my own the last year and a half of HS–16 at the time.) And if I can do it, so can he.
“…you know…..you know…..I don’t know”. How the fuck does he expect us to know if he doesn’t know? One thing I do know is he’s a dumbass and am pretty confident he doesn’t know that either.
Another comment on a thread about this guy….
“I went to high school with someone who worked on this case. She believes he’s on the spectrum, undiagnosed.”
Proper response is ‘No, he’s just a lazy f–k who wants people to do everything for him.’
Likely expecting others to wipe his ass for him as well.
I know some people who know some people who robbed some people and they all say he’s just a lazy fuck.
As someone with a son on the spectrum (diagnosed) and as someone who is so much like his son in every way I am pretty sure that I am also on the spectrum (undiagnosed) – let me just say that “the spectrum” is there to inform us of ways to modify (and how to teach our diagnosed or undiagnosed children to modify) our natural thought patterns and reactions to fit into society and be successful human beings DESPITE the differences in the way we react to the world.
NOT as an excuse to be a leach, a loser, a slug, or an a-hole.
That is all.
I think a stint in the Army or Marines would give him a new perspective.
He wouldn’t last five minutes in Reception BN, let alone three minutes in an Engineer OSUT Unit!
Some more about Michael:
He was involved in a custody suit, which he lose and blames his parents for.
He has a lawsuit against Best Buy for firing him two years ago for not working on Saturdays.
https://nypost.com/2018/05/22/parents-win-suit-to-kick-deadbeat-son-out-of-their-house/
I’d understand it if it were for a short term situation (losing a house or job and trying to get back on their feet) or if they were helping care for a parent at home. Maybe the parents had good intentions originally, but they let it get to this point.
Mikey looks like the type that would be online at 0300 sitting in him room in shit-stained underoos playing games with kids half his age (I know of a few in my AO that are carbon copies of Mikey… and think it’s cool).
Fired from Best Buy? Lives with Mommy in his thirty’s?
Well, it’s interesting to actually see the face of an internet troll, redditor, and 4-Chan commentor (most certainly a little bit of DU SJW in there too). He looks exactly like I thought he would.
Well, perhaps he’s a bit too thin.. He needs about 60 pounds and a distinct patina of Dorito dust and dried Mountain Dew on his beard. Then he’ll have it all. He won’t make the memes, he’ll actually be one.. And the circle of liberal life will be complete.
He’s the real “pajama boy”, and damn if you don’t write pretty! I’ve used similar descriptions of DODs “Cyber Warriors” because, well, real warriors risk unspeakable physical injury and death, but the cyber warriors maybe can claim early onset diabetes and fallen arches…
This bag of dicks would probably have little to contribute to the military … any branch. He would be on the receiving end of an endless blanket party. I would not want this guy in my unit unless he did a 180. He’s a waste of freaking space. Kick him to the curb.
I find it interesting that in American Society kids are expected to leave home at a certain age. I was that way myself at that age, leaving at 18. However, I found later in life that much of the world does not work that way. Families live more communally with adult children and their families living either in the same house or on the same property in a different dwelling. Most family members help with running the business or farm or whatever.
Part of it I imagine is the emphasis on economic opportunity in the US but there is less closeness of families then I have observed other places. When someone does stick around the offspring is often noted to be a freeloader (apparently in this case he IS a freeloader) even when that is not the case.
The sad part is the end game. In the US parents are frequently shuffled off to nursing homes and hospices to be cared for by strangers for end of life care that can go on for years.
Maybe the solution is for Michael to find a Sugar Momma.
Ladies – any takers?
Let me think about that for a minute. Uh-NO!
I think he’s better suited for some old pervy sugar daddy…someone he can ball gargle and anally retain for rent…
Hell that’s nothing. My mom’s sister lived with her mother until she was over 60 and my grandmother died at 92. On top of that, her own daughter continued living with her all that time as well.
I have a sibling two years younger than me (48) that still bawls about having one Medical Condition after the other despite Doctors saying nothing is wrong with her and she STILL mooches off our Parents. Her political affiliation? She was a Bernie-head and then a Hillarrhoid, ain’t that a surprise?
Be fitting if Judge Judy got the case.
That or Dr. Phil…
*AWWWWWWW* POOR SNOWFLAKE, maybe he spent seven years getting say, a four year Degree in something like Chinese Politics or Gender Studies and just CAN’t find that six figure job he thinks that Society owes him, poor wanker! Now at the tender age of 30 he’ll be forced to go earn his own keep, WHAT IF he has a WoW withdrawal or *GASP!* gets yelled at by an irate Boss man?
Still single at 72 and never married so I will not comment.
Could be wrong, but I believe most of us on here posting would physically throw our own 30 year old parasite out the door. With ease and prejudice.
He looks like one of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers®™️ as well, anyone remember that 70’s underground comic strip?
Where’s fat Freddy’s cat?
Haven’t seen him since he “laid an egg” in Fat Freddy’s drawers when he left them on the floor!
He earned himself five minutes this evening on one of those shows that comes on after the news. It was painful to see a slovenly ‘man’ in that situation. A few times he thought it appropriate to approach the judge. The judge was having none of his theatrics. BTW, he plans to appeal. I want to be there when he gets bounced from the house with no place to go. He also has a child but from what I gathered from the show, he has lost all rights to be in the child’s life. That says a lot.
Some people should not be allowed to reproduce and IMHO he’s one of them.
Saw part of his court appearance on the evening news tonight. He is a slob, period. No sympathy from me at all. And the judge told him to get out of his parents’ house, so he spent some time on the ‘net’ complaining about how unfair it was.
He says he’s going to appeal it. Appeal what? He has no appeal, zero, zip nada. He’s got less appeal than stale tortillas in a plastic bag.
Tucker Carlson had his regular proggie millennial loon female on his show tonight saying the parents had no right to evict him and that he is entitled to live with his parents indefinitely, despite their wishes to the contrary. I would like to know whether they are paying her to spout such ridiculous positions.
No, she really believes that, rgr769.
It seems to be a viral syndrome with that generation. They can do whatever they want to with no consequences, including sponge off their parents ad infinitum.
That’s strange. I do not, however, believe that bunch of slackers is, or even represents, the majority of that population group. There are a good many who are not like that.
I don’t believe in smacking kids, but it seems as though this bunch needs a good wakeup call, a truly harsh dose of reality.
An Adult Age Human Male yes, a Man he IS NOT.
My kids were made aware of the “30-60-90 rule”. You can stay here until you graduate wherever you are going to graduate from. After that moment you have 30 days to find a job, 60 days to find a place to live and 90 days to have all your crap out of my house.
Hey Michael Rotondo, “LIFE IS HARD BECAUSE YOU’RE A DUMBASS!” – Red Foreman
Michael Retardo….too late now, but mankind in general would have been better served (especially your parents) if you had been siting all these years on a shelf at a sperm bank. The only thing the judge missed was deciding who is going to be responsible for changing your diapers once you hit the streets. BTW, are you certain that so-called child of yours is in fact your offspring? Point being, normally it takes a man to reproduce a child. Why don’t you take the easy road (with all that hair you have) and have a gender replacement surgery procedure? That should make it easier for you to find a sugar daddy who will treat you like the queen you really are.
Jarhead,
Sorry gotta disagree with you on “Point being, normally it takes a man to reproduce a child.”… a quick trip to “da hood” will disprove that theory… all it takes is a male with working parts… all the little gang bangers and thugs may be a lot of things, but men is not one of them, and they manage to reproduce more prolifically than rabbits…
I don’t get it. My home growing up was loving and supportive, yet I could not wait to get out of there! I left 18 days after HS graduation and into the service. Aside from a short stop on the way to post-Marine Corps college, I have been on my own since then.