holy crap, my best friend from childhood enlisted in the marines

[JohnKleeb]

He lives in Texas and we hardly talk, but still.

[politicat]

1. Wishing him luck.... Marines is a tough call.

There's a lot of will breaking involved, more so even than the regular armed forces.

Here's hoping he ends up in a maintenance crew or something.

PCat

[JohnKleeb]

4. I know

I am just still in shock, me and him were once insepertable.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. You fear that he will be sent to war don't ya ?

[JohnKleeb]

3. naturally

yes

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

7. Well I have a friend who will be deployed to Iraq in February 2005

and I am very afraid myself . In fact , I have not slept since he told me .

As far as your friend is concerned - he just joined , and you should hope that the situation changes that the only reason that he was to go overseas is to live in Okinawa , Japan's US Marine Base . Wish him luck and sucess . He knows what he is doing .

[JohnKleeb]

8. he's lost weight too

now weighs less than me. I know, I am afraid, it's sad.

[The Straight Story]

5. I tried to get in when I was 16

by the time I was 18 I wised up :) I also had a professor backing me to get into an astro-physics program, but that fell through as well. My how the years fly by :)

20 years ago...and now many things have come full circle for me (bought the house next door to my folks where I grew up, bought a trs-80, program on a sun server, and am in the computer field). When I was 18 I was in chess tournaments, played ad&d, and life seemed simple - now I am re-living that to some extent.

Sorry for going off track, your post just reminded me of a bunch of things as I sit here coding and posting....

[JohnKleeb]

6. its ok

He's my age, only two weeks older. I just cant believe it.

[The Straight Story]

11. Around that time

I had a friend from HS who enlisted, and he went to gulf war 1. Not sure where he is now, so many friends from those days and I don't know where a lot are today (although a few have since passed on).

[Nightowl_2004]

9. The guy who lived across the street from me went into the Rangers

I am a couple years younger and we used to play basketball every day, he was one of my first good friends when I moved to Oregon. His class at Ranger School had 80% dropout rate and they broke him down. Somehow he made it! I hope your friend does well, I'm sure Rangers and Marines are comparable.

[JohnKleeb]

10. We were close and best of friends, I just am in shock

[Nightowl_2004]

12. I remember the feeling

Down the street from me is a guy who was with the 101st Airborne Division on D-Day. I remember talking with him about how worried I was. What he told me was comforting, Maybe It'll help...

"Dont worry about Jeremy, Rangers are some of the best. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan...they had some of the toughest missions like jumping onto airfields and doing raids but suffered the lightest casualties...They take care of their own and are well trained. He'll be ok."

I don't know if that helps but I'm always comforted by the fact that my friend is with (and one of) the best.

[JohnKleeb]

13. now it seems like he's become born again

the times they change.

[JohnKleeb]

14. kick

[JohnKleeb]

15. sorry kick

[drumwolf]

16. what's he like now? do you two have much common ground now?

You said he lives in Texas and he joined the Marines. Is he a Republican now? Does he support the Iraq war?

It's amazing how you can be close friends with someone but then take vastly divergent paths from him/her later in life.

[JohnKleeb]

17. I didnt ask about his politics

I havent seen him in two years. He's still a nice guy but we have disagreements on religion, I am quite the Catholic, and I am not really a fan of though I respect it, Protestanism Evangalicalsim. I bet he does support the war, he wants to be an officer. Of course, you can still be friends, I have to say in the last few years under Bush, Ive met my best friends through common ground being against Bush, and we've found that we have a little in common from there. Sigh, this is the guy I did everything with, I really have lost innonence yet at the same time I am growing and having more fun.