In the last thirty one years before I retired, I worked for a company that had to be operational 24/7. I worked all holidays, extra time, double shifts, overtime I could get. I even examined the vacation schedules of others so I could be available for work.
Why? Because I knew it would increase my paycheck, which it did.
In thirty eight years of my working life, I only turned down two days of overtime because I was too fatigued to work. I had gotten off a midnight shift, and was called in to work an evening shift without sleep that day.
I am now retired AND LOVING IT! It all paid off.
When I was in the Marines, I volunteered for every field assignment that came along. Between 1982 and 1984, I was on pretty much every field exercise held in the Mojave Desert (i.e. Gallant Eagle).
Now they don't pay you overtime in the military but what this did do was keep me in the field where I couldn't spend any money. When you are sitting around on base, you end up spending every nickel you have. There was one stretch where I had six or seven uncashed bi-monthly paychecks sitting around. So I came out of the military with some serious money in my pocket which is more than most can say who serve a four-year hitch.
During those four years, I only had one Christmas as home. All the other Thanksgiving and Christmases I was on duty and have very fond memories of some of those holidays. Just the little things, like the Christmas Eve me and some other Marines roasted a pig in the ground in the sands of a Camp Pendleton beach and I remember watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean as we sang Christmas carols out of tune, gorging on sweet pork and drinking beers on ice that some of the officers brought in for us.