FORT BLISS, TX — Most soldiers draw up lists of what they want to do when they get back from deployment overseas -- from biting into a Big Mac to kissing their girl back home. For Private First Class Samuel Ramos, it was his dream to buy a new car.
"I've never actually owned a car before. I could never afford it," says Ramos, "but with all the money I saved on this deployment, my dream can now come true."
Ramos recently returned to Fort Bliss from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan with 3rd Brigade, 1/41 Infantry. He's part of a growing trend of what Army officials call "post-deployment rich".
"PDR is a term we've coined," says Major Nate Simpson, "which basically encapsulates the soldier who left on deployment living paycheck to paycheck, but returns with a bunch of cash in the bank that he inevitably must spend immediately. This then brings him back to economic equilibrium, meaning, paycheck to paycheck - again."
