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I was sitting at a bar tonight....

SKYDIVNEKD

SKYDIVNEKD

Call me "Walt Kowalski"
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Messages
3,761
....just having a Woodford, waiting on my wife and a co-worker to show up for dinner. A fella at he other end says, "Hello. My name is Bob. If we're gonna be sitting here together, we should at least know each others name." After a brief intro, I tell him I herd cats for a living and it's off to the races. He's a retired Army Captain suffering from Sarin gas exposure, and has a great outlook on life. We laughed about too much shit going on, and actually struck up a good conversation. Came time for Michelle to arrive so I asked if I could pick up his meal. Well, you can imagine how that went, so I said I'll buy your bottle of wine, at least. I had no idea what any of it cost, but the sacrifice to our Country made it worthwhile. I paid the bill, exchanged numbers, shook his hand and said good day. We'd catch up agin soon.

Fast forward, the industry rep goes to cover our dinner and I found the Army Captain had paid for ours. Damn him anyway. I walked over, told him he was out of line and he says, "I out rank you and rank has its' privileges. We'll leave it at that!" We shook hands and parted ways. We'll meet again, for another drink and some lies. Solid fella. Great interaction. Unassuming from both ends.

Thanks for reading. Please read no more into this than old school military camaraderie. It was a chance meeting, a rare occasion I engage anyone in public, and a truly genuine fella that is enjoying life(what he has left of it). May God look over the journey he has left! I truly hope to meet up with him again.

Floyd T
 
Thanks for sharing this, Floyd. It’s interactions like that, that give humanity a sliver of hope.
 
With this way this thread was titled I was expecting a punchline, but instead ended up with a great story. Thanks for sharing, Floyd.
 
Floyd, your story reminded me of a similar story. I was in San Antonio for business 8-9 years ago, had finished my day mid-afternoon and stopped by a bar. I was the only one in the bar and after a few minutes a gentleman walked in, who I thought was a Chief Master Sargent, in full dress blues, wearing a few millions ribbons.

I said "can I buy you a drink Chief? He walked over and sat down beside me and we started to chat. He explained that the Air Force had created several new rank insignias and that he was a Senior Master Sargent. He asked me a ton of questions about what I did in the Air Force and if I thought my military time helped me in life. He called the bar tender over and told the bar tended to put my tab on his. I said "I asked you first", he said "rank has it's privileges son" and smiled. It was funny because I was at least 15 years older than him. It reminded me of when I was in, when a high ranking enlisted person called you son it was usually a sign of respect.

He asked me if I would be willing to come back to San Antonio and speak to young airmen for their Basic Training Graduation. We exchanged numbers and he was on his way.

Thanks for the memory!
 
CigarStone said:
Floyd, your story reminded me of a similar story. I was in San Antonio for business 8-9 years ago, had finished my day mid-afternoon and stopped by a bar. I was the only one in the bar and after a few minutes a gentleman walked in, who I thought was a Chief Master Sargent, in full dress blues, wearing a few millions ribbons.

I said "can I buy you a drink Chief? He walked over and sat down beside me and we started to chat. He explained that the Air Force had created several new rank insignias and that he was a Senior Master Sargent. He asked me a ton of questions about what I did in the Air Force and if I thought my military time helped me in life. He called the bar tender over and told the bar tended to put my tab on his. I said "I asked you first", he said "rank has it's privileges son" and smiled. It was funny because I was at least 15 years older than him. It reminded me of when I was in, when a high ranking enlisted person called you son it was usually a sign of respect.

He asked me if I would be willing to come back to San Antonio and speak to young airmen for their Basic Training Graduation. We exchanged numbers and he was on his way.

Thanks for the memory!
Click to expand...
so did you?
 
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