Posted on Apr 26, 2017
Are you still in contact with anyone you served with? Are those relationships challenging to maintain once you've returned to civilian life?
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Please share your experience and advice of maintaining friendships once your service has ended.
Friends
Military Life
Relationships
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 20
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In May 67 I was in charge of an Artillery Battery south of Nui Ba Dinh. We got overrun and among the KIA were five brand newbies. 50 years later I am discussing this on the internet when up pops one of the KIAs. He had been in my battery for hours, he was wounded and sent home. He retired from the Army. I assume that made him undead. I've lost touch with him again
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CSM Charles Hayden
@SSG Edward Tilton
Heavy duty! Thank you for your service and congratulations on your survival. Please do not be affected by Rally Point, too much focus can cause problems!
Heavy duty! Thank you for your service and congratulations on your survival. Please do not be affected by Rally Point, too much focus can cause problems!
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SSG Edward Tilton
CSM Charles Hayden - Thank you, I try to avoid the arguments. I've got 11 things waiting to kill me. People tend not to pay much attention to a doddering old fool anyway.
I still have one buddy I picked up along the way
I still have one buddy I picked up along the way
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CSM Charles Hayden
Amazing, so few things matter when you are 'older'! Are you in touch w/ SGT Philip Roncari ? he seems to be ? Healthy. Chuck
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SN Vivien Roman-Hampton Several on this Forum, Several on Linked-In, Several on FB All Great Ways to Keep in Touch.
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PO2 Robert M.
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel and also TWS..... In some ways, I keep in contact with my shipmates more than my High School/College classmates. You could ALWAYS rely on your shipmates!!!
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It is difficult to maintain individual friendships with people after you get out. Especially for those of us who served before email and the Internet, keeping up with physical address changes over the years could be very difficult. One bright point for me: I was in the Army Security Agency (ASA), a fairly small group of Army personnel who have created a few Facebook and other sites to reconnect with people, and we've used those to catch up. One guy who enlisted the same day I did, went to Basic with me, then to AIT with me, but branched off to another MOS and I lost touch with him. But we've reconnected now and it's been awesome!
Even better, my MOS in the ASA was a very small one, never more than about 600 at its peak during the Vietnam War. We all either knew each other or knew someone who knew someone else. It got even smaller as the war drew down, to only about 300 troops. Someone decided to hold a reunion, they started a Yahoo Group with an email list, and we've got almost 450 of our folks who participate on the list! We've had 9 reunions now, I think. I hosted one here in DC in 2004 with trips to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was a very special event. We've met all over the country to give folks a chance to attend. We talk about memories, old stories, past missions, people, and the history of our field. It's quite an interesting group. I'm trying to capture as much as possible and write a book about it all.
Even better, my MOS in the ASA was a very small one, never more than about 600 at its peak during the Vietnam War. We all either knew each other or knew someone who knew someone else. It got even smaller as the war drew down, to only about 300 troops. Someone decided to hold a reunion, they started a Yahoo Group with an email list, and we've got almost 450 of our folks who participate on the list! We've had 9 reunions now, I think. I hosted one here in DC in 2004 with trips to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was a very special event. We've met all over the country to give folks a chance to attend. We talk about memories, old stories, past missions, people, and the history of our field. It's quite an interesting group. I'm trying to capture as much as possible and write a book about it all.
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SGM (Join to see)
SN Vivien Roman-Hampton - It's great seeing each other again, meeting wives, sometimes kids. We always have a social room with sodas, snacks, coffee, beer, wine, pictures, mementos, memorabilia and stuff in it, with plenty of time in the schedule for everyone to just gather in the room and talk, look at the pictures and identify people, swap lies, and all that. We have a lot of fun.
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