REAL MAN TRUCKWORKS & SURVIVAL

GENERAL TOPICS => Our Pro-Military, Veteran, and Thin Blue Line place => Topic started by: Flyin6 on April 27, 2018, 09:24:05 AM

Title: Brotherhood
Post by: Flyin6 on April 27, 2018, 09:24:05 AM
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=He+Ain%27t+Heavy+He%27s+My+Brother+the+Soldiers&&view=detail&mid=37E541B77C2C587C1B7B37E541B77C2C587C1B7B&&FORM=VRDGAR

I don't know why I get in these moods, but sometimes I just can't get my mind off of my brothers in arms, and of the times we spent together. They were such an investment of my life, and they invested and trusted in me as well. I think of Jody maybe once a week. I remember that smiling face of a WO1, brand new warrant officer who showed up when I reported to the 101st once. A HMMWV dropped me off in a field in the middle of no where, and up comes Jody walking and smiling. He announces himself, "Hi, I'm Jody, you must be the Big Don we've been hearing about." He was one of those instant best friends.

But a friendship between a W4 and a W1 was not something that ever took place. He was supposed to be a magnet for abuse and I was the giver of misery to all around me according to our rightful roles. But Jody never stopped smiling and his friendship won in the end and we were just the best of friends, sharing life together.

And then one day I had to bury him. Standing before a crowd of thousands, his parents had chosen me to say the words that would resonate in their minds for the rest of their lives. You see, even though the desire was always there to be a warrior, I had created him. I sowed into him so much, and one dark night when I was riding his jump seat and at low level, we entered a snow storm and was immediately blinded, that cool calm and collected kid simply started a level turn on 180 degrees and within a minute or two, we were out of that storm and we made it on to the target, on time. Procedure called for an immediate power application to climb up to some minimum safe altitude to get away from towers and power lines and such, but he leveled off and turned staying out of trouble and off somebody's radar screen.

I asked him why he did that after the flight. He looked at me saying, that some old warrant officer had taught him how to do that. I knew then that he had learned, that he was the one. And indeed, he became that "One." He died in a place where no one even knew we were fighting on a daring rescue mission to free two American missionaries from the clutches of Communist guerrillas. The bad guys mostly died, and so did one of the missionaries, but we got one out, and Jody was heroic in all that. His Chinook however didn't last and crashed in some deep water. Everyone died who was on board. They were mostly all my friends. Jody, Bart, Sergeant Dorrity, all my friends.

Then so many more in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would choke back the emotion on so many occasions as I'd listen of a desperate attempt by aviators to pull some amputee out of a fight. I'd hear them taking hit after hit, getting chopped up trying to save someone. I did it myself, we all did, but God has his time and we have ours, and nothing we can do can extend God's time a single second.

But we get to live that moment. Like in the furnace of a steel mill, great metals are created, in those moments when you throw your own life to reckless abandon, and go for it, something is forged right there between you and someone you don't even know. Later there is this thing which I can't explain where you recognize each other instantly. Maybe at a party or sitting in Atlanta waiting for a flight, but you see them and they recognize you. "You in Iraq?" "Yea, with the 82nd in "O" six in Telafar, You?...and so it goes

But it stays with you and it changes you, and nobody who hasn't shared that sting will ever get it, and that's OK, but you are annealed and bonded into a group of people called warriors. We all share the same nervous system it would seem, because when one is in danger, we all feel it. WHile others are watching some movie and a bloody scene comes up, they see actors, we see the kid in the back the medic is trying to piece back together. When I see jets coming in for landing at cincy, I see a lone blackhawk, with a female pilot going at max speed for the medevac pad while all of us are yielding way, even the C-17 on final and the Mirage fighter running on fumes. We give way and all of us are hoping that the kid(s) on board make it.

We are a brotherhood...
Title: Re: Brotherhood
Post by: EL TATE on April 27, 2018, 12:33:09 PM
Thank you. All of you.
Title: Re: Brotherhood
Post by: cj7ox on April 30, 2018, 03:43:12 PM
Amen. Had to bury a couple a few weeks back, hard days. Wouldn't change having served, and especially having served with such amazing young men.
Title: Re: Brotherhood
Post by: Nate on April 30, 2018, 08:52:21 PM
So by your post sean, are you saying that your retired now?
Title: Re: Brotherhood
Post by: cj7ox on May 01, 2018, 05:29:51 PM
So by your post sean, are you saying that your retired now?
No, not 'til they boot me out. I'll hit MRD in 2026.
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