so am I the only person that always has a bad taste in that month when they see articles like this? even ignoring that it is a vet ofc you’re happy when your wages are higher than locals by a fuck ton
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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It’s the saddest thing about visiting places like SEA. Anyone who can spend tons of time in an area with just gobsmacking amounts of crushing poverty without it taking a toll on them is deeply suspect to me. I certainly felt a immense amount of guilt and anger by the end of my last trip years ago, and I wasn’t a Marxist at that point, it was just basic empathy.
I still remember the face of a beggar in the street I saw for half a second 15 years ago when I was in Malaysia. These "white guys move to an impoverished country to live like kings." kinds of guys are some of the most revolting people I can imagine.
I would retitle it:
"Middle class white guy gets to enjoy being a powerful and wealthy sex tourist in an impoverished society that is struggling because of the US's actions against the country, finally understands why their colonising ancestors were so keen on the whole subjugation thing."
But I will admit that is a little wordy.
while living in Korea, Ryan got in trouble for breaking his curfew. He lost out on several months of pay, was restricted to his military base and demoted from staff sergeant to senior airman.
Something else happened here. You are not losing your position as an NCO and losing months of pay over curfew violations.
maybe he was caught canola-ing after curfew, which is a huge no-no. get that shit done during the day, people!
Is "canola-ing" a round about way of saying the r-word?
It's certainly what every anti-US military protest in worst Korea is usually about
yes, because the filter got me and the sentence became incomprehensible, so i had to come up with something...
I would think so, given what seed canola oil is pressed from
Who has $4k a month after income with room to spare in the states even?
If his cost of living a 4k a month in Vietnam he's living in near luxury.
Fucking "Make it" rubbing in the nose bullshit like "hey anyone can why you youngsters crying?" always a catch .
monthly income stems from several sources, including approximately $1,500 from VA disability, $1,000 from the GI Bill while he’s pursuing a master’s degree, and $900 to $1,300 from teaching English.
Yeah anyone can just get insta $3k a month subsidies. "Make it" 
Who has $4k a month after income with room to spare in the states even?
Software Engineers and similar, if you're single.
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36-year-old American Air Force vet moved to Vietnam, lives on $4,000 a month: You can 'focus on what makes you happy' here
Didn't read the article, but is it "why be a sex tourist when you can be a sexpat?"
$4k a month is $48k/year; a survivable income in many places in the US, as long as you stay away from major metro areas or expensive neighborhoods.
Idk I easily live on 32k and all my friends don't make much more than me if not significantly less, and we live in a major metro in the US. Living on 4k a month in Vietnam and making it seem like you are living frugally is just embarrassing to be honest.
making it seem like you are living frugally is just embarrassing to be honest.
yeah, exactly - who the fuck cares?
32k/year seems hard unless you're really pooling expenses or live in a cheap metro area
Napkin math, I guess it checks out if you can get rent for < ~$1000, have no debt, and no car
Yeah all of those things, plus eating 80% Huel... Maybe it's not super easy and I'm just a little rat creature who's used to living like I'm in a YA sifi dystopia... 😅
Huel is expensive for meal replacement! I drank a significant amount of Soylent for about 7 years but have grown distasteful for the company since they got purchased, I recently switched to Jimmy Joy and love it, I believe it's cheaper than huel and it's made in the Netherlands
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But you could also live in central Hanoi and live a really comfy middle-class life for the same.
Yeah, I'd way prefer Vietnam over anywhere in the US that's livable on an annual $48K.
Lots of cute little towns across the Midwest that you can live off if that, especially if you have no debts
More than double what I have made every year since 2020, and $AU is worth like ,60c us, so its actually closer to what, 6.5kAU a month? Lol
would love to be taking home $4k/mo.
Ryan suffers from spine arthritis, respiratory issues, auditory pain, and mental health challenges from his time in the military. He receives disability from Veterans Affairs.
Have you considered sacrificing your health and mental well-being to the imperial war machine?
i have cPTSD, hypertension/diabetes, and night terrors from my years of fighting in the Cola Wars.
there were no parades for that regiment. they fought until the last man. but unfortunately, i was him.
Your sacrifices will not be forgotten.
"Japanese soldier retires to Nanjing"
Throw him out
You can live just fine on 1k/mo in Vietnam, rent a decent place for 300, food 10USD/day, 400 for miscellaneous expenses.
What is the healthcare/insurance situation like?
Healthcare incl dental is cheap enough I paid out of pocket, at the public health clinics. There are also private hospitals, which are more expensive, but I never went. Some places will try to load you up with unnecessary medications snd procedures, be prepared to look up what is being prescribed.
If you have a TRC, which can be purchased if you know the right people, you essentially pay someone to employ you on a work visa, you can qualify for insurance, vaccinations, etc.
Insurance covers a portion of medical expenses. Government employees get like 80% off, rural folk have the least coverage.
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waow i don't even make 4k a month that's cool
NGL, $4k/mo would provide a very comfortable lifestyle where I am, currently. Not lux, but very comfortable.
I will never understand the tendency for Global South countries to roll out the red carpet for ghouls that are directly associated with Western Imperialism, whether right after liberation from said imperialism or not.
It's fairly simple, he's siphoning 4 times the average Vietnamese person's income per year (in USD as well) from the US to Vietnam
Yeah, it's money from the US state going directly into Vietnamese people's pockets. Hard to really complain about if he's not causing shit.
Extremely critical support
Westerns pay more into the local economy by consuming more costly goods.
Y’all ever think about how, if you just had 60 seconds of American spending focussed toward you, you’d be set for the rest of your life? $4,500,000 in just 60 seconds.
I think about that a lot.
And what the fuck even is this article? If you got $4000 a month, you can life pretty comfortably in America. I guess if there’s one American trait, it’s perceiving yourself as better for having more money than the people around you.
"helldiver buys condo on caramore" vibes
I've never even had more than half of that amount in my entire life, and even that amount was only possible because of the stimulus checks.
$4,000 a month in a low-cost country is STACKS of cash. If I had this kind of cash rolling in while living in South Africa (and even in Estonia), I could flip off my boss in under a decade and retire early.
I'm lucky if I make a quarter of that a month, and I live in a country with one of the highest cost of living in the world, but sure, good for them that they are able to mooch off a socialist country that their home country and the military they served in tried their hardest to destroy. So glad it's working out for them. I love that for them.
$4k a month is livable, provided you live alone and dont dream of having savings
I spent most of last year loving on $300 a week. Dude is making 4x a US poverty wage in a country with an drastically lower standard of living.
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I live pretty okay in America on about half of that- $2000 a month.
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