“I played Army Guard in the mid 90s and the few Vietnam Era types in the unit were the best ones to hang with.”
I think for most folks who’ve been in combat zones, a realization comes like a gob smack that you are going home in a body bag. I know it came for me. After that moment, the rest of your time in country is easy since you already know you’re going to die. You just enjoy and excel in your time remaining.
What I’m saying is: experiencing war up close changes a person; that’s probably why you like hanging with those guys. They have been there and can speak and feel the truth of the whole thing.
I totally agree. A lot of the rest of that crowd were always NG types (not to knock on them all) that never did anything more than the weekend/2 week thing. In some respects it was like being in high school again since most of them stayed in the same town after graduation. The unit got disbanded and I went back to Naval Reserve.