The other day I was thinking back about the five guys I ran around with in high school and where life has taken us.
One went to Zoomie U and was killed in a training accident at age 22.
One went into the Navy and was killed during flight ops at age 20.
I became a Marine and was injured while training, broken back. Now retired due to disabilities.
One followed me into the Marines. Injured during training accident, fell from the top of a tower, hit every log on the way down, spent a year and a half in the hospital. Also never got over his fondness of 16 year old girls. Spent 8 years in prison for that. At that point I cut off contact.
One became a long haul truck driver. On the day he received his Million mile award he was T-boned driving home from work. Now retired due to disabilities.
One became an alcoholic and died at 32.
All of us are in the 56-58 year range. Three of the six dead at young ages. Four of us went into the military, none of us came out of the military whole. I've been to way too many funerals.