How much do you stay in touch with old military friends?

2017-06-28T20:29:12-04:00

Using what modes of communication, how often do you really speak to old friends that you have served with? If often, does this help with anything? If not very much, is there a reason?

Response by MSgt Jason McClish made Jun 28 at 2017 8:31 PM

2017-06-28T20:31:02-04:00

Some of them probably twice a month, others perhaps once a year or so.

Response by SN Vivien Roman-Hampton made Jun 28 at 2017 8:52 PM

2017-06-28T20:52:16-04:00

I only have a couple that I communicate with throughout the year. We don't speak very often but whenever any of us have needed anything, we always step in to help no questions asked. I would actually like to speak to more of them but have been looking for years and unable to find them.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Jun 28 at 2017 8:54 PM

2017-06-28T20:54:05-04:00

Facebook is the primary method of staying in touch. Now I don't speak with all of them every day, but I probably do chat with at least 1 or 2 every week. The biggest reason is life happens. Everyone's on different corners of the globe, people raise families, get jobs, work weird schedules. All the usual reasons people don't speak often.

I also still work with Marines, so I get to stay in touch with a couple of my Marine friends who haven't PCSd yet or aren't deployed.

Does this help with anything, well in my opinion, I feel it helps with the camaraderie. Being able to talk to someone who equally understands the military experience can be therapeutic.

Response by PO1 Brian Austin made Jun 28 at 2017 11:02 PM

2017-06-28T23:02:05-04:00

There is a core group of 3 that i stay in touch with and get together with regularly. We've known each other over 30 yrs and we live within a few hours of each other. Our wives are also good friends. We stay in touch via texting, FB (wives), email or good old fashioned phone calls. There are a few others i'm in touch with from time to time throughout the year.

Response by SSgt David Tedrow made Jun 29 at 2017 3:25 AM

2017-06-29T03:25:07-04:00

The older I get the more I find a desire to reconnect with past military friends. I have begun to attend more reunions and joined several military associations.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 29 at 2017 8:53 AM

2017-06-29T08:53:57-04:00

Not as much as I'd like. The main reason is that I don't participate in most social media. Other than RP I pretty much don't do anything else. I think I'm the only person not on Facebook.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 29 at 2017 10:10 AM

2017-06-29T10:10:46-04:00

Not nearly enough.

We are all FB friends but don't communicate like we should.

Response by SGT Dave Tracy made Jun 29 at 2017 10:12 AM

2017-06-29T10:12:17-04:00

If you count "likes" or brief comments on Facebook, about every other day.

Response by SSgt Holden M. made Jun 29 at 2017 11:18 AM

2017-06-29T11:18:12-04:00

It's interesting I think I have more veteran friends that I didn't serve with then I do that I served with. But it's different with the Air Force though at least for when I deployed. It was just me deploying from my base and everybody deployed individually so it wasn't one whole squadron that would deploy so keeping in contact other then facebook isn't really all that feasible.

Response by SGT Christopher Hayden made Jul 3 at 2017 1:59 PM

2017-07-03T13:59:20-04:00

95% of the ones that I do are guys I deployed with, the other 5% being guys I served with in other units. And it's basically just Facebook and Playstation.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 28 at 2017 2:31 PM

2017-11-28T14:31:53-05:00

Some I do and some I do not. It depends on how close we got mostly. I made more lifetime friends on deployment than back in garrison.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 29 at 2018 9:00 PM

2018-03-29T21:00:24-04:00

zero ,I'm only have face book most just got family now so I, feel like I'm in the way.Just stay away, but I think I'm destine to roam alone.

Response by SN Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2018 4:18 PM

2018-10-06T16:18:19-04:00

I was on FB as early as when it first came out...but the constant barrage of BS that kept popping up on my page from family & friends made the decision to download, delete, and close my account all that much easier....that was over 5 years ago and don't miss it one bit....what I do miss is all my Navy buddies that I had found over time and we even had our own page....I miss them tremendously because they were a part of my life when I left home and arrived at my first duty station a kid and then became a man....even the captain of my first duty station the USS Francis Hammond (FF-1067) was part of our FB page....what a blast it was to see him again after all those years and see how well he had also done for himself....now I only keep in touch with one Navy buddy from my first ship who lives in Chicago because we both went to the same high school....he graduated a year before I did but was the first person I met when I got to the barracks at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan the 2nd week of January 1979 around 2 o'clock in the morning....I've been tempted to re-open a FB account over time but with the recent security breach they had that's definitely not going to happen any time soon....

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Mar 29 at 2019 11:22 PM

2019-03-29T23:22:23-04:00

SGT Joseph Gunderson LTC Stephen C. My comms consist of a semi-annual telephone chat with the CSM who replaced me when I retired from a ‘Peter Principle Position’ that I did not care for.

The others, CSMs I worked for or replaced, friends, previous commanders have all passed away. Yesterday, I was informed of the death of a COL who had entered “my” company in 1960 as a SGT-5.

COL Ron Helson had been in the 187th RCT in Korea, then did a spell in the eighty deuce.

After being out for a while, he came into the USAR. Ron immediately pursued and was rewarded with a appointment as a 2LT.

Once he heard of Det 1, Co B, 17th SF Group, USAR at Ft MacArthur, CA, he transferred there in 1962, regained his jump status and remained on jump status until his retirement much later as a COL.

We did not see much of one another recently nor hardly communicate beyond the occasional greeting card.

Helson was on total VA disability from those years of exiting aircraft while in flight. He had 2 replacement knees and shoulders and 1 artificial hip. With a small Oxygen tank for his COPD and was sorta mobile.

After hearing of his demise, I did not have a ‘good’ day today. “We were Soldiers once, and young.”

Helson is the one who during a hand to hand exercise, triggered my high school ’football shoulder’ which. caused me to drop out of the SF unit and to tesr up my app for jump school.

Our exploits will not go down in history, nor the nights nursing our beers because we couldn’t afford - just one more!

I sincerely hope; Colonel Ronald Helson rests in peace!

Response by SGT Daniel Merriman made Mar 20 at 2021 8:06 AM

2021-03-20T08:06:01-04:00

I have several friends from Bragg that I keep in contact with. We have a good time reliving our time in the AA !!!

Response by A1C Brittany McCoy made Aug 24 at 2023 1:29 AM

2023-08-24T01:29:27-04:00

I was staying in touch with a few people for awhile on Facebook, snapchat, and instgram. I stopped messaging them, and I haven't heard anything from them since. I feel like I was basically watering dead plants. I'm not much of a social media person. I really only got into it because all of my military friends were on it.