Invest in Future You

Health: Not Just for Testing

"I can see the hard-charging part of myself resurfacing."

I'll start this module with full transparency: I am just now, in the last couple of years, getting back into working out and watching what I eat. I'm not going to pretend I've been a fitness model my whole career. That would be a lie, and you'd see right through it.

But even in the years I wasn't prioritizing it, I always knew health was an investment, not a checkbox. The PT test is a minimum standard. It is not the goal. When you treat fitness as something you only do twice a year to pass a test, you set yourself up for the exact mistake I made: aiming for the minimum and losing a stripe over it. (That story is in Never Stop Learning.)

Mental Health Is the Part That Touches Everyone Else

Most people hear "health" in the military and think run time and push-up count. The piece that actually matters most is the one nobody tests: your mental health. Your head.

I've always known I had to keep up with mine, because it's the one thing that, when it's off, makes everything downstream go sideways. Your relationships. Your work. Your decisions. Your patience with the people you love. I wanted to be the best version of myself for the people around me, and you cannot do that running on empty on the inside.

So let me be straight with you: there is no shame in asking for help. The Air Force has resilience resources and counselors, and the MFLC office exists for exactly this. Using them is not weakness. The weakness is knowing you're struggling and refusing to do anything about it because you're worried how it looks. Physical toughness does not protect you from what's happening inside your head. You have to train both.

Getting Back In Changed More Than My Body

Since I started staying active again over the past couple of years, the difference has been real, physically and mentally. I can see the hard-charging part of myself resurfacing. The version of me that shows up with energy and pushes through hard things instead of dragging through the afternoon.

I'm in the middle of that climb right now, honestly. My wife tells me I look great. People in my office have told me my consistency is inspiring to them. I appreciate it, but that was never the point. The point was taking control of my life again and doing the hard work, consistently, over time. This is a marathon, not a one and done. You don't see results daily. You're lucky to see them monthly. You keep showing up anyway.

Here's the part worth understanding: this stuff is connected, and it cuts both ways. When you let your health slide, it doesn't stay in its lane. Your energy drops, your patience gets shorter, your tolerance for stress shrinks, and you start making worse calls because you're tired and foggy more often than not. When you take care of the basics, the opposite happens, and the people around you usually feel it before you do.

You don't have to be an athlete. You have to be consistent. Move your body regularly. Eat food that fuels you instead of draining you. Get sleep. And treat the PT test as the floor, not the standard.

One practical thing while I'm here: document your health from day one. Every injury, every sick call, every issue. The VA claims process after you separate runs on documentation, and the people who get the benefits they earned are the ones who kept the paper trail. AF101 breaks that down in VA Benefits & Claims.

For the official fitness program and what the standards actually look like, AF101's Physical Fitness goes deeper on the mechanics.

Finances: The Math Matters at 19

The TSP Walk

I was an A1C walking to the finance shop with my second-line supervisor, a TSgt, when he asked if I'd registered for the new Thrift Savings Plan. TSP had just opened up to military members in late 2001.

I told him no. I didn't have the money. Remember, at this point I was carrying a Star Card that had gone from $3,000 to $5,000 in debt, and I had no real understanding of how money worked.

He said something that changed my financial life: "We tend to adjust our living style to our income." Then he explained it plainly. Yes, contributing might sting in the month to month, but we almost always figure it out when we have to. We adjust. We adapt. The money you never see is the money you never miss.

Then he told me about compounding interest, and that my money would roughly double every 7 years at a reasonable rate of return.

Let me show you what that actually means, because this is the number that should make you act. Say you're 19 and you start putting $200 a month into TSP at an average 7% return:

• By age 26 (7 years): about $22,000
• By age 33 (14 years): about $56,000
• By age 40 (21 years): about $113,000
• By age 47 (28 years): about $207,000
• By age 54 (35 years): about $365,000

That's $200 a month. Roughly what a lot of Airmen drop on eating out or a car payment. And if you start at 19 instead of 25, that six-year head start is worth over $100,000 by the time you're 54. Not because you put in $100,000 more. Because of compounding.

When we got to the finance office, I filled out the paperwork and started contributing 5%. That was my first investment. I was 19 years old.

At that time TSP didn't match contributions; it was contribution only. Today the military does match, which makes it an even better deal. I've always put in at least 5%, but I'd push for above 10% if you can swing it, then work your way up as your pay grows.

The Budget That Changed Everything

I told you in The Pitfalls about the Star Card and the debt spiral. Here's the other side of that story, the part that fixed it.

I wasn't raised understanding money. My parents were always in debt, always paycheck to paycheck, and I assumed that was just how life worked. When it finally clicked that every bad financial decision was piling on stress, and that the stress was bleeding into my work and my relationships and everything else, I knew something had to change.

So I built a budget and accounted for every dollar. Not a vague plan. A line by line accounting of income and expenses, where every dollar has a job before the month starts. It sounds boring. It is boring. It also changed my life.

Getting control of my money killed the financial stress. For the first time, I felt like I was running my life instead of my life running me. That habit grew into a simple rule I still live by: invest in my future first (TSP, IRAs, now my company 401k), then live comfortably on what's left.

The Emergency Fund

I've only had to actually live off my emergency fund once. Every time I think about it, I'm grateful the fund was there.

It was when I left the IRS position I told you about in Navigating People, the one where I got called a racist for rolling out Microsoft Teams. I resigned on a Wednesday, effective Friday, with nothing lined up.

Six months of living expenses in the bank meant I didn't have to panic. I could take my time and find the right job instead of grabbing the first thing that came along out of desperation. That fund didn't just cover bills. It bought me freedom. The freedom to make the right choice instead of the scared one.

Build your emergency fund before you do almost anything else. Six months of expenses, in an account you don't touch. It is not exciting. And on the day you finally need it, you'll be more grateful for it than for anything else you own.

Five Money Rules for A1C Josh

If I could hand my 19-year-old self a sticky note for the money side of life, this is what it would say:

1. Don't get the Star Card. Or any high-interest card straight out of tech school.
2. Don't buy a new car on E-2 pay. You'll make enough eventually. Wait for it.
3. Start TSP at 5% minimum. You'll adjust, and you won't miss it.
4. Build the emergency fund. Six months of expenses, before other savings.
5. Live below your means. Not at them. Below them.

That's the money side. But money was never the most important thing I learned to invest in, and I'll give you the real one-page list at the end of this module.

For the actual pay tables, BAH, and allowances, AF101 covers it in Military Pay Structure. For TSP match details and retirement math, see Retirement Benefits.

Education: Use Every Benefit

The Investment Nobody Puts on a Spreadsheet

Before I get to education benefits, I want to talk about the one investment that has outperformed every other in my life: relationships.

The people I served with are the people who got me jobs, supported me through loss, challenged me to grow, and stood with me when things fell apart. Twenty years after I separated, that's still true. No account balance has ever paid me back the way the people have.

The Priority Stack

I keep my relationships in a clear order: God first, then my wife, then my children, then everyone else. When my relationship with God is off, it throws off everything after it. When things with my wife are off, the same cascade runs downhill.

You don't have to share my faith to use the principle. Know your priorities and invest in them in order. The people in your immediate circle are the ones who'll still be there when you take the uniform off. Don't sacrifice them for people who won't be.

Seasonal vs. Lifetime

Not every relationship is built to last forever, and that's okay. There are relationships for a season and relationships for life. Don't feel guilty for letting a seasonal one fade, but double down hard on the lifelong ones.

The seasonal ones have a way of rotating back around. I've reconnected with people decades later because the relationship, even while it was dormant, was built on genuine respect. Don't burn bridges. Just don't confuse a seasonal friend with a lifelong one.

The System (It's Embarrassingly Simple)

Here's the actual system I use to invest in people. None of it is complicated:

Calendar app: I log birthdays and anniversaries. I even keep recurring events for the dates friends lost loved ones, so I can send a short message that day letting them know they're in my thoughts. That one matters more than you'd guess.

Phone notes: When I start a new job, I open a note and start writing down names. The person's name, their spouse's name, their kids' names. It takes 30 seconds, and it has built more trust than almost anything else I do.

Birthday cards: Keep a stack. Pass them around the office for everyone to sign, then hand them over. Watch the person's face.

Condolence notes: Learn to write one. When someone loses a loved one, a handwritten note lands in a way a text never will.

Overseas travel: If you're stationed overseas, set up a shared folder where everyone drops their travel itineraries and experiences. We did 10 days in London, and I've passed that itinerary around a couple dozen times. Even when nobody uses it, it builds community.

The Education Benefits I Left on the Table

Now the benefits. And I'll start with my own regret, because it cost me.

Early in my career, I skipped Tuition Assistance. Part of it was shift work; I signed up for a psychology class with some friends and had to drop it. But if I'm honest, the bigger reason was the belief I carried for years, that I was too stupid for college. (The root of that is back in Know Yourself.) I didn't think I'd pass, so I didn't bother trying.

Here's what that cost me. I have a co-worker who ran his entire undergraduate degree on TA, which left his GI Bill completely untouched, free to use on a Master's or hand down to his kids. He made the smart play. I didn't. I left free money on the table for years because of a lie I believed about myself.

I did recover. When I separated and went into the Reserves, I used the GI Bill to finish my undergrad and part of a Master's. And because I'd worked two AFSCs, Command and Control and Crash Fire Rescue, I qualified for two CCAF Associate's degrees: Emergency Management and Fire Science. Don't wait as long as I did to start.

Here's the strategy I wish I'd run from day one:

Tuition Assistance: Use TA for your undergrad while you're on active duty. It's up to $250 per credit hour, 18 semester hours a year. Run your whole bachelor's on TA and you keep the GI Bill in your pocket for later.

CCAF: The Community College of the Air Force turns your tech training, PME, and gen-ed credits into an Associate's degree. You may be closer to one than you think. It's a free credential. Take it.

GI Bill: The Post-9/11 GI Bill covers tuition, housing, and books. It's one of the most valuable benefits in the entire package. Save it for a Master's, or transfer it to your kids if you can cover undergrad another way.

AF COOL: AF COOL pays for certifications and licenses tied to your AFSC. It wasn't around when I was in. If it's available to you, use it. Certifications travel with you when you separate.

Want the eligibility details and the fine print? AF101 lays it out in Education Benefits.

The Real Cheat Sheet

I promised you the real list. The money rules back in the last section matter, but if I could hand A1C Josh one page on investing in his future, it wouldn't lead with money. It would say this:

1. Serve others with no expectation in return. Not even for the reputation. Do it because it makes someone's life better. The return I've gotten from this, completely unintentionally, has been enormous.
2. Be intentional about leadership. Becoming a good leader takes deliberate work. It does not happen as naturally as you'd think.
3. Be selective about who you let into your inner circle.
4. Do hard things, and do them with other people. The camaraderie you build doing hard things together is gold. If you want to watch a team take off, this is what does it.
5. Live below your means. Don't spend the whole paycheck. Build the six-month emergency fund, then keep saving.

That's the page. Four of those five are about people and character. Only one is about money. That ratio is on purpose.

Future You Will Thank Present You

When I look back, here's what the Air Force actually gave me:

• Skills that kept me employed for 20 years after I separated
• Relationships that got me hired because people trusted my work
• A security clearance that opened doors I didn't know existed
• A deployment to Savannah, where I met my wife
• Healthcare that covered my child's birth for a $20 copay
• Education that paid for a bachelor's, part of a master's, and two associate's degrees
• The skills and the credibility to build Forever Wingman and create AF101 and AF102

My time in the Air Force was the foundation of everything that came after, because I took advantage of what it offered. And it offered a lot.

The two things present-day Josh is most grateful past Josh did: he built relationships and he saved money. Every good thing since, the opportunities, the businesses, the ability to ride out the hard seasons, grew out of those two deposits.

Future you will thank present you. But only if present you makes the deposits.