I would say that's a good way to put it. I wouldn't mess with them. This will be he's first deployment on a recon team. He plans to re-up sometime after January and after the deployment move over to Force recon for the rest of his time.
He was the nicest guy you ever met but strange. He(George) grew up in the Bronx in a rough neighborhood. We lived in an apartment in the hills of NC and George left the door standing wide open at night for air movement. When I asked if it worried him, he pulled a machete from under the mattress.