Way back when I first came in the Army, there was the buddy enlistment option. I didn't have any friends that were non-criminals, so I was going in solo, and this story isn't really about me. The way the buddy enlistment worked is you and a buddy would enlist together, go to basic together, and go to the same first unit together.
A couple of guys from my first company came in on this program. They were both from Cali, grew up together, went to the same high school, and all that. One of them was in my platoon, the other was in first platoon. They came in the Army maybe 4 or 5 months behind me. I remember, because I was basically the platoon bitch for the longest time until we got the new guy. One of the NCOs told me to do something, and finally I was like, "Hey Sergeant, why don't you get the new guy to do it, he just got here?"
"Hey Private! You don't tell me what to do... but you're right, hey fucking new guy, go do [whatever bitchwork that needed to be done that only required one person]"
Fast forward 2 years, and we're in Iraq. Our first platoon was attached to an FA unit, so we had only seen them like 2-3 times halfway through the deployment. We'd all be together for memorial services, and then once again for this big mission where we just sat around and watched AH-64s hellfire a building and a JDAM get dropped on it.
Anyway, we're a week into retaking a city, and we get word from higher that Michael(not real name) from our 1st platoon was killed in another city. David(not real name), who had come in on the buddy program with him, was in our platoon. It was really weird, because at that point in the deployment we had already lost 4 others. No one shed a tear, and David wasn't even phased by it. It was like, we didn't really have time to mourn or be sad.
It wasn't until another week or so, after that city was secure and we were back in our AO, that we had Michael's memorial service, and no one was even sad about it, we were all cracking jokes on the dead guy. Later on, I looked this up, and I guess humor is often used as a coping mechanism when working in careers surrounded by death.
Go forward a few more months, and we're at the end of our deployment, we're done, just waiting to move south to Kuwait, we made it. A big group of us go to the refinished chow hall that had been blown up by a suicide bomber the month prior. We're just sitting around, shooting the shit, when David raises a moral question with us. You see, Michael's (ex)girlfriend from back home had been hitting him up, and it was apparent that she wanted to fuck. David asks, "Would it be wrong to fuck my dead best friend's ex-girlfriend?"
It goes around in a circle, with everyone throwing in their 2 cents, with everyone saying it would be a bad idea, and the person before me giving the most meaningful, impossible to top response that was something like this, "You know David, some people come into the Army with no morals, and gain morals, while other people come into the Army with an existing set of morals, and then they abandon them. I don't want to see you be that guy who abandons your morals, you're really not that guy."
I'm the only one who hasn't contributed to the discussion... all eyes on me... I can already see the smirks on people's faces, waiting to hear whatever fucked up shit I'm about to say. "Well, you know me, I didn't have any morals before I came in the Army, and I don't have any morals now, so I'm going to say I'd straight up smash that shit."
Everyone's laughing, that's pretty much the end of the conversation, there's nothing left to be said, we all get up and leave after that.
I don't know if he ever did smash, probably not. If it were me though, yeah, I'd be balls deep, and then feel bad about it later.
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[–] [deleted] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] SexMachine [S] ago
Too true.