 Welcome to AirmanVision. My name is Sargento. I am a retired master sergeant from the United States Air Force. I did 20 years of Air Force duty and I'm currently doing a Air Force Junior RTC instructor job here in California. But today I'm going to talk to you guys about five things that I would tell myself as a young airman living overseas. Now these top five are not in any particular order. Now we have young airmen, future airmen like yourselves watching this video. All right, number one, travel. You're going to be stationed overseas. Take advantage of the traveling opportunities. Back in 1996 my first duty station was Yakota Air Base Japan. I did some traveling but looking back I wish I would have done more traveling. If you were ever stationed overseas, you know whether to be in Pac-F or U-Safie, do all the traveling that you can't, you know you're over there already so make sure to take advantage of that. All right, number two, learn the language. You're already in a foreign country. Try to learn the language. When I was in Japan I was working with a lot of Japanese nationals. I would see them you know Monday through Friday. They'll teach me some Japanese words. They'll teach me some phrases to get by through when I'm in Tokyo. Like where's the bathroom or where's the nearest train station? You know things like that. Learn the language. I think that's so cool when somebody can learn a second language. Can you imagine if you're back in the States and you go to a Japanese restaurant, you talk to the sushi chef and you tell them your order in Japanese? I think they'll be impressed. I think that's impressive. All right, number three, take advantage of all the college classes that you can. The military, they're basically giving away free money. Leave it's $4,500 every school year or every fiscal year that you're allotted for tuition assistance. So free money. Why not take advantage of that and take classes? What better way to complete your bachelor's degree by taking college classes overseas? And if you decide that the military is not for you, at least if you if you concentrated on your college courses during your first enlistment, you can get out of the Air Force with a degree and then apply for a civilian job or maybe a civil service job. Speaking of money, my number four, save money. For airmen that are here at Stateside, they're not making as much money as you are if you're stationed overseas. One of the benefits of being stationed overseas, depending on the country you're living in, you might be getting extra money. It's called COLA, cost of living allowance. When I was in Japan back in 96, I was getting, I was an E1, I was getting close to $2,000 in just COLA. $2,000 in just COLA. That's not including the base pay. Save money. If you get that extra money right now because you're stationed overseas, put that money aside. Invest in it. Once you get back to the States, your paycheck is going to be decreased so much. So whatever money that you get while you're overseas, put that money aside. Trust me on this because when you do get back to the States, you will have a decent financial cushion if you were invested in that money and put it aside and let that money grow. So it's going to be tough because I had a reality check when I got my first duty station here in the States and I was like, what? My paycheck was so bad. I mean, it was, but I learned to live with it. So save your money. Number five, take advantage of the outdoor recreation, the activities that they have since all the trips that they offer, like when I was in Japan, they offered trips to Tokyo Tower, they offered hiking, Mount Fuji, you know, take advantage of all that stuff. Whatever country that you're in, I'm sure they're going to have all kinds of trips available to you. So take advantage of those and have fun. Take pictures, take videos, YouTube it, document all this stuff and just have fun with it. Go outdoors. Don't just stay in the dorms. Go out and have