Friends and family

I've had an association with the military in one form or another for my entire life. I was a military brat and then did AFROTC at Auburn, and now I'm active duty. The idea of staying in one location for a period longer than 3 years is simply foreign to me. Since I moved around a lot I learned to value the importance of friends. It's not like I could have childhood friends because back when I was growing up the military was large and you didn't necessarily run into lots of people. I understand how great it is to have good friends. I don't talk to many people I didn't meet in high school. In fact I have one close friend I've known about 16 years. I don't talk to her as often as I should, but there's no doubt if she needed me I'd be there in a second and she would do the same. I keep in pretty good contact with four guys from college--two of which were my roommates. These guys were groomsmen in my wedding and we've all been buddies since 1993. Again, we're there for each other and when we get together it's like we've never been apart. I've met people here and there throughout my career that I'm close with. It's such a huge thing to have people you can count on and trust. Being in the military you learn what a big deal it is to have family and what it means. If you're my friend then you're my friend for life. It would take a lot of bad mojo to change that and it's never happened. When you've got those kinds of friends you want to hold onto them because they're a part of you for the rest of your life.