Money

Found a can of herring today, it was bulging - botulism.  Boiling water should kill that, right? So I had herring botulism soup for my daily meal today.  Hope that doesn't kill me.   Fucking "hope" is going to get me killed.   Also, it was freezing cold last night. I need to steal more blankets and get some heat in this sewer I hide out in.

It's hard to believe this is my existence, shivering, scrabbling for scraps and counting every kopek.  And the irony is that stateside I have a lot of money.  USEC sucks and I will never forgive them for abandoning me here.  But they paid well.

I was pulling in just a little under 200K USD yearly working for USEC.  When they hired me they said they were looking for candidates with combat experience, who had held security clearances, and/or were special forces.  I was two out of three of those so my starting salary was well north of 150K.  And I got a "sensitive operation" bonus my two years in Sudan, so between two years there and a year here in Tarkov, I had banked nearly half a million. 

In Sudan, the job had been pretty sweet.  I had a three and a half month on-site rotation, followed by two weeks paid vacation. They'd ship me to Frankfurt and I could go anywhere on my own dime, just had to report back to Frankfurt in two weeks.  I took that option once, went and visited my parents.  BUT there was a second option: _three_ weeks paid vacation in southeast Asia (typically Manila or Phuket), all expenses paid.  I only had to spend my own money on things like alcohol and girls.  I spent a lot on alcohol and girls.

So USEC was covering my food and board. I had no stateside mortgage or rent.  At the blacksite in Sudan, cell phones, smart phones, computers, pretty much any personal electronic device, including toys, were strictly forbidden.  That was the one thing they really took seriously. Between reporting in at Frankfurt and arriving at the site in Sudan I was probably asked ten different times if I was carrying a cell phone, or a laptop and my kit searched at least twice.  That's why they constantly brought us caseloads of DVDs and books in Sudan - no internet.  Anyway, so I had no cell phone payments, no Netflix subscription.  The money just came in and except for a couple thrillas in Manila and fuckin in Phuket, it gathered unspent.

Now that I think about it, I had a big life-insurance policy too. It was super expensive, but USEC covered it. I set it up to pay out to my parents. And I had to prepare all that will and survivorship stuff too, so my fat bank account should be going to them as well. 

Hey, am I declared dead? I didn't get out of Tarkov with the first wave, right after the big banana. If I'm officially dead, I wonder if my parents have gotten the life insurance or my bank account?  Probably their respective lawyers are squabbling over it.  

I wish I had a way to reach them.