101st 11B here, we deployed to Africa last year and we all got close af.  3 of the 5 guys in my team have ETS'd and one other is coming up on his ETS.  My entire platoon looks completely different other than a few guys.  It's sad man, really sad.  I stay in touch with these guys as they start their civilian lives but it just isn't the same as having everyone together in a different country waiting for an EDRE or to get spun up.  I miss having them around the company area and especially out in the field.  now we got all these new fucks who are dumb as fuck and they are complete strangers and it's just a damn lonely feeling.  I got 2 more years left before I ETS and it's gonna be weird not having the guys around anymore.

I know the feeling. I have friends all over the states and the world for that reason. My advice would be keep in touch and visit when you happen to be where they are. Were you in Djibouti last year? My brother is 101st and was over there around the same time frame. Small world.

holy shit.  yea man.  without getting into specifics was he B co?

I’ll have to ask him. Give me a min.

He was in rawanda actually as a PL in Charlie company. You 3rd brigade?

I did all my time in the AF. All 9 years in Texas.

yea 3BCT but I wasnt in rawanda

thats cool man, you did your time and your part.

His guess was that you were in Ethiopia and he was good buddies with your PL. initials of his friends were CN or AV. Either way small world. Thanks for your service and give the FNGs a chance. They will miss you when you have your DD214 in hand.

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3rd BDE is best BDE.

Guys,

This is the way of things in a line platoon. I did almost 10 years active, 3 years in 3/187, 2007-10.

It pretty well happens after every deployment. I did 4,(02, 03-04, 07-08, 10) so I’d know, haha! The new guys are almost always stupid fucks until they get broke in. Once in a while you get a good one. You guys with combat time help with that. As a matter of fact, it’s your job to help break them in-even if you’re not a leader. These men are your comrades and someday you will need to count on them. They will look to you because you’ve been there, so do it right. You may not realize, but some comment you make to an FNG to teach him something might stick with him and save his life or yours. Ask me how I know.


Remember, you were cherries once yourselves. Someone taught you.

That’s two cents from an old, crusty NCO and one time card carrying member of the E4 mafia.

There are two types of deployments. One, when you're the new guy, and two, when you're the old guy. Sometimes the difference can be 6 months. Second type, surprisingly, is the loneliest. Hang in there. Be a good example for the new folks. Once upon a time someone thought you were new and dumb too.

Yep. It's a cycle, and it can definitely wear on you the longer you stay in. It's bittersweet but life goes on. Cherish those memories and STAY IN TOUCH.
We lost more guys after my first trip than we did in country.

It’s same everywhere no matter what unit.

I was in from 2011-2014, 4/2 SBCT 2-23 IN B-Co. When I first got there majority of the guys had served together in Iraq or had been apart of a training g mission that took them to Australia. Those dudes were close AF, and to a new guy coming in it wasn’t the friendliest environment.

Thankfully had a great NCO who took me under his wing and started teaching me everything I would need to know. Introduced me to people and got me squared away, so by time it was my time to deploy I was ready.

Shitty part was for the most part I ended up deploying without those guys cause they had either ETS’d or PCS’d. The few who did stay on for the Afghanistan deployment were our go to NCOs.

Got my E5 right at my two year mark. Came back from Afghanistan, looked at the new guys and thought the Army had gone to shit. One couldn’t do 40 push-ups and was literally coming straight out of basic.

You either teach them the skills you were taught and learned or you become a shitbag leader. I chose to teach them as much as I could in my time with them while all my friends I had deployed with either got out or PCS. Didn’t help my unit was getting disbanded thanks to military drawdown (thanks obama!)

Made my decision to get out the Army, said goodbye to my friends with a party most of us don’t remember, and came back home

One good buddy lives an hour away now. The rest are scattered but we all try to keep in touch best we can.

As your own personal life progresses (college, marriage, kids) you may not talk as much but when you do it’s like nothing as changed.

My best bud still lives out in WA, we text on regularly and always make sure we send toast on 2-23 day!

It does suck. My first deployment was all about forming relationships with the dudes i served with. We were all super close and knew each other really well. We were all national guard so we don't PCS and tend not to move units much, and if you donit generally isn't a different location.

By the time my second deployment came around, there was only a few dudes left and none of them were the ones I was close with. A few of them ended up in different services. One went AF EOD. Another went to the reserves.

It really is depressing to see I am pretty much the only one left. It sure isn't the same.

This is just how the military is. You make friends, you have fun, you/they separate or PCS, you make new friends. Wash, rinse, repeat. I feel for you though. Been through two deployments and three PCSs and have made lifelong friends at each stop along the way.

Ever year and deployments some come and some go. It’s the nature of the Army.
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For me there are less than a handful that we still talk everyday and that we still have the unbreakable bonds.

I’m actually at one of their houses right now. I had to drive through two states to get here.

I joke around and say the Army gives you single serving friends those guys are your buddies during a time frame. After they PCS/ETS they fade away.

Whelp, time to be that crusty oldNCO: those “new fucks who are dumb as fuck” are your charge there Bucky, and the attitude you sound like you’re taking towards them is fucked seven ways from sunday. If they’re still fucked up 2 years from now when you ETS, it’s your fault for being a shitty mentor.

ive had to deal with a new batch of guys after every combat rotation I’ve been on. On 3 of those instances we had less than a year to get those new guys ready to go kill people in the desert. Your bros who ETSed ain’t never coming back to the fireteam again, dude. They’re Facebook bros now, and have begun their lives of posting pics of them growing beards and wearing NODs every Veterans Day. you on the other hand have 3 more flesh and blood dudes right there that need to learn. So quit being a floppy bag of dicks, check out of the pity party, and start teaching the young pups how to do shit.

Don’t ever let someone outside your squad ever hear you talking shit on the guys in your squad again either. That’s shit unit cohesion. jfc man.