{"id":1938,"date":"2015-06-29T14:04:15","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T18:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=1938"},"modified":"2015-06-29T14:04:15","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T18:04:15","slug":"military-reunions-living-in-the-past-or-making-new-old-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1938","title":{"rendered":"Military Reunions..Living in the past or making new old friends?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
MIUWU Reunion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This past weekend I attended my very first military reunion.\u00a0 I have received invitations to several past reunions; but always felt myself to young to attend these events.\u00a0 After all, aren’t they just a bunch of old salts rehashing days of past years?<\/p>\n

I had no plans of attending.\u00a0 I really didn’t.\u00a0 It wasn’t until a very good friend of mine, the best Chief Petty Officer the Army has ever known talked me into attending, we’ll call him Pedro.\u00a0 I learned a lot from this reunion, a reunion which has forever changed by perspective of them.\u00a0 Military reunions are not just about rehashing “the good ‘ol days” of military service and remembering those no longer with us, it’s about coming together, learning from the experiences of those who served before (and after) I had at the command.<\/p>\n

Pedro leaned on me pretty hard to attend.\u00a0 Of the 50 or 60 so people that said they’d be there, probably 25 – 30 actually showed.\u00a0 There is a unique bond between military members, a bond that that I’m proud to have.\u00a0 Although it has been many years since I’ve seen them (of course we had all promised to stay in touch), it seemed like yesterday – and we all laughed and harassed each other as only military members can get away with. A couple of folks that were there were…antisocial.\u00a0 Others were a social butterfly, and talked to everyone – Pedro is one of those, a social butterfly with no equal.\u00a0 He has no enemies; only friends.\u00a0 No problems, just solutions.\u00a0 He’s the go to man…he’s the Chief<\/strong>. Pedro embodies all of that which a Chief represents.\u00a0 It is my honor know and to have served with him and the other Chiefs that made such a strong “Mess” possible.\u00a0 My old skipper was there – and it was real good to talk with him again.\u00a0 He is a good man, another who only sees the bright side, even on a dark day. I could ramble on for hours of the good people; but I shouldn’t.<\/p>\n

During the first night of the reunion, a young sailor (at the time I served in the command) came up to me and told me a story of how I had inspired him.\u00a0 I had forgotten all about this little event.\u00a0 Apparently it was a time while we were deployed in support of the Army, and he was feeling down.\u00a0 I pointed to the National Ensign and told him the reasons we were there were bigger than him and I, that there was a bigger purpose that we didn’t necessarily understand.\u00a0 And those words gave him comfort at the time being away from his family.\u00a0 It renewed my faith in the human spirit a little bit when he told me this story, you never know the impact you’ll have on another human being.<\/p>\n

Of course there were the stories…flash grenades setting fire to the tents, airplane doors coming off while landing, trucks stuck in the sand, being stalked by a panther (the cat, not the tank)…. But all were told with a gleam in the teller’s eyes…recounting memories past; where the bad memories have faded, but the good have remained.\u00a0 Time does heal wounds, as do good people.\u00a0 I’ve discovered that a military reunion is not about reliving the past, the reunion is about reconnecting with friends of old and making new friends that share a common bond.<\/p>\n

In short; I’m damn glad Pedro pestered me into going.\u00a0 It did my soul good.<\/p>\n

I’ve been getting emails from my first ship to attend its reunion.\u00a0 I’m starting to think pretty hard about it.\u00a0 Maybe not this year, but I think the next reunion will find me there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past weekend I attended my very first military reunion.\u00a0 I have received invitations to several past reunions; but always felt myself to young to attend these events.\u00a0 After all, aren’t they just a bunch of old salts rehashing days … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,16],"tags":[72,66,65,63],"class_list":["post-1938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-rants-raves","tag-friends","tag-leadership","tag-military","tag-usn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1004,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1004","url_meta":{"origin":1938,"position":0},"title":"Memorial Day 2013","author":"DR D","date":"May 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight I watched the National Memorial Day concert on PBS. It was really good and touching. There was a very moving story about two brothers, one who lost a leg, and his brother; who took his own life due to PTSD. There was alos a tribute to Charles Durning. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"Holding the National Ensign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/holdingTheColors-2005-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1127,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1127","url_meta":{"origin":1938,"position":1},"title":"Syria is like a bowl of oatmeal","author":"DR D","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning boys and girls! The Syria \"mess\" is like a bowl of oatmeal that has been placed in the microwave. What starts as a nice clean bowl of oats, quickly in a short time of the microwave (think 'limited' TLAM strike) quickly expands and spills out of the container\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2555,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2555","url_meta":{"origin":1938,"position":2},"title":"Rest in Peace Swift","author":"DR D","date":"October 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On October 1, 2016 the HSV-2 Swift, a proof of concept ship, was severely damaged in a missile attack off the coast of Mokha, Yemen. \u00a0A friend of mine served on her while the ship was under the\u00a0US Navy. \u00a0He said she was a fine ship and a delight to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/825","url_meta":{"origin":1938,"position":3},"title":"Mail Bag – Freedom and Liberty Hijacked","author":"DR D","date":"December 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning Boys and Girls.\u00a0 This is the first reader who has written using the \"What's on you mind\" link.\u00a0 Here's what he(she?) had to say: Our Freedoms and Liberty have been Hijacked. I'm tired the fruits of my labor are being stolen by \"the state\". When being robbed by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1104,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1104","url_meta":{"origin":1938,"position":4},"title":"An experiment in Timesharing: 2013 Timeshare Journey – August","author":"DR D","date":"July 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing I like about the last calls, you can cancel them up to 30 days out.\u00a0 As seems to be the norm, we shifted our last week of Julys plan, instead of uprooting and heading to Willis, TX; we stayed in Horseshoe Bend, AR.\u00a0 We end up styaing (virtually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Timeshares"","block_context":{"text":"Timeshares","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/travel\/timeshare"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15068,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15068","url_meta":{"origin":1938,"position":5},"title":"Time to strap in and buckle up!","author":"DR D","date":"January 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is January 20th, 2025, Inauguration Day, which, by all accounts, should be a peaceful turnover of power from the current democratic president to a recycled republican president (yes, the lower cases are intentional). It would be really nice, if we could say this is the 46th peaceful turnover of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1938"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1945,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938\/revisions\/1945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}