Sucking up to people is the worst thing EVA!
Everyone in my family are business people who run their own stuff.
Personally, I recently received a degree in IT (Software Application) and I was accepted to work as a sub-contractor for a web-design company. (In Australia, people don't like to pay tax so they just employ me as a separate entity and I just charge them an invoice upon completion of a project with 10% GST [Goods and Services Tax] instead of the regular 25%+ income tax)
... Now that might sound like a bad thing, but I think it's very good. That way, technically speaking, I get to be my own boss! And my "boss" is technically only my client.
So yay.
Anyway, your life story is pretty sad; I read through all of it and I get your point. The army will always "break" people's spirits before allowing them in; it's so that they can gain their full loyalty and thus... Control over them. But, luckily for you though... Bush won't be president for much longer.