Quote from Military Reunion Handbook
Those of you who served in the military know that those years were among the most intense, unforgetable, and influential of your life. And the largest part of that experience, the part that keeps coming back time and again, is the people - those men and women you served with. Served with? What a strange term. That actually meant eating, working, playing, joking, yelling, suffering and celebrating together, day in and day out. Good times, bad times, great times, boring times, and times that scared you to death. At first you were strangers but you became friends, even with some you might have avoided or never met in "the real world."
But it was more than friendship. Your present sense of camaraderie and nostalgia is not really focused around happy and casual memories like (say) those of high school, but on uncommon bonds forged under ususual conditions. You depended on each other to get the job done; you needed each other to survive battles and boredom, and you came away with an experience known only to those who have been there.
Then, many of you were catapulted from military service directly back into civilian life. After your discharge, you scattered to towns and cities across America. When you try to remember your miitary experience and the people you served with, there are blank spots and a sense of incompleteness because no one is around to remember with you, and there is a lot you have forgotten. Your experiences and thoughts may not be easily shared with people you now love and live with. Friends and family may have long ago begun to yawn over old war stories, never realizing their subtle yet profound importance to you. A reunion offers you a chance to remember, fill in the blanks, rediscover long-lost friends, compare experiences, ask a friend that important question, spend time with someone you had previously overlooked, be with those who understand, and finally put into proper perspective that most profound and powerful part of your life.
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