Army Buddies

[John Morris]

For anyone who has served in the Armed Forces, you all know that you meet folks that you'll know for a lifetime, they become brothers, sisters, and they become family. The experiences you share while serving together form a bond deep and long.

I have one such friend I have kept in touch with since we parted ways in 1991. I ETS'd out, and he stayed in.

We have never lost touch after all these years, we met while serving in Panama back in 1990. I was shipped to Panama right after AIT to participate in the Invasion of Panama (Operation Just Cause) and shortly after, we met.

 

We were (still are) like brothers while serving together, we went every where together, we got in trouble together, we had good times, we had bad times, we cried over too many beers, and we laughed over the worse things. We even met both our wives at approximately the same time, in the same place. His wife is Panamanian native, as is mine. And we never lost touch with each-others family. As both our families grew with kids, we remained in touch. He served in the Kosovo conflict and later in Iraq (OIF) and went on to serve in Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait and he was dragged into many other campaigns over the years, till he finally retired about 6 years ago. He now works at Twenty Nine Palms Marine Corp.

Back in 2005 while he was in Iraq, I took time off from work and loaded my family into our truck and drove up to Utah to help his wife and kids with some "Honey-Do's" in his absence, and to just give her support and hang out for a little bit. Our families have been there for each other.

 

After all these years of my buddy going from one base to another, one campaign to the next, since 1991, a few years ago he and his family ended up just an hour from our home in Yucca Valley California, again where he commutes to Twenty Nine Palms for work. And there he'll retire in a few years, and we'll hopefully grow old together now.

 

Today, we headed on over to their home up in the high dessert for a family barbecue. The two knuckle heads, me on the right, and my Army buddy Gage on the left. We had a great time as always. My buddy has paid the price in his service, and he is pretty beat over it all. But he still has the same sense of humor he did over 25 years ago, when we first met, some things never change.

May God Bless all our Brothers and Sister Veterans who are paying and have paid the price in service, we shall never forget.

Gage if your reading this, love ya man, and thank you my friend.

[lew]

Life long friendships. A deeper bond than most folks can understand.

 

Sadly, I am starting to lose my Navy brothers.

[John Morris]

11 minutes ago, lew said:

Sadly, I am starting to lose my Navy brothers.

Sorry Lew,

We'll all be there eventually won't we? Our veterans are passing away daily, I am also deeply saddened that our WWII vets will soon be non-existent among us. We should cherish the friends we have now, for sure. Good friends are hard to find. This is one of the only men I can be straight up with, baring it all, there is nothing between us, no pride no shame, no judgement, we seen it all between us. That is hard to find in friends.

[hatuffej]

For the last 20 years or so, I walk up to every veteran I see (they usually wear a vet hat), shake their hand, and ask "How are you doing? You OK? Thanks for all that you did." They are delighted, especially the older WWII and Korean war vets. I served in the infantry '68-'70 and tell them its OK to have bad memories, and its OK to talk about that. Nearly all of them thank me for that, and their wives readily agree. 

hat

 

 

8 hours ago, John Morris said:

Sorry Lew,

We'll all be there eventually won't we? Our veterans are passing away daily, I am also deeply saddened that our WWII vets will soon be non-existent among us. We should cherish the friends we have now, for sure. Good friends are hard to find. This is one of the only men I can be straight up with, baring it all, there is nothing between us, no pride no shame, no judgement, we seen it all between us. That is hard to find in friends.

 

[John Morris]

44 minutes ago, hatuffej said:

For the last 20 years or so, I walk up to every veteran I see (they usually wear a vet hat), shake their hand, and ask "How are you doing?

hatuffej, that is an awesome way to thank our folks who served, I wish we could see more of that in public. I admit I don't do it as much as I should, it always seems like I am in a rush, but I need to slow down and walk up to our men and women wearing the colors, more often, I will make a promise here and now, that I will. Thanks for the reminder of this important action we should do daily in our lives.

[Gene Howe]

My greeting is usually "Hello brother and, thanks." If they are wearing a hat or shirt that signifies service in 'Nam, it's " Hello brother, welcome home."

As we were leaving a restaurant in Tulsa, I saw a frail elderly black man sitting waiting for a table. He was wearing a hat that said he served in Korea. I sat with him and had a nice conversation. He said no one ever recognized his service. We shook hands and I told him that here was one. It made both our days. 

[Al B]

Massachusetts recently presented awards to a WW11 Pearl Harbor survivor aboard the USS Constitution. Not sure I heard this right, I believe they said there are only 6 Pearl Harbor survivors left living in Massachusetts.