2 Charlie

We spend a lifetime coming in contact with people and most of those touch points fall meaningless to us. With the pending reunion, I wanted to take just a few minutes to speak from the heart to each of you.  The roads we travelled, the times we spent together are precious and can never be replaced,

For those of us who attended the 20th, it was a great time to see the men who were once kids roaming the halls of 2 Charlie.

You only live that moment in time together once, those times where many of us were equals from the beginning and most us ended up equals at the end. We all,at one point,had our feet elevated on the same bunks or had to climb the same ropes, dealt with the stupidity that was at times life in Battalion. Times that will never be forgotten.

It pains me that I can't attend the 25th, but life is at times life.

Rob Rogers - how proud are we all of you?  You stayed, drove on and sucked up it up for your entire enlistment. You endured the bullshit that comes from a time where the only thing used to separate the good from bad was the Ranger Tab. You now fly helicopters! Your a 2 Charlie, 3rd Squad Ranger and I'll always refer to you as such.

Rob Lanier - you actually were part of us the shortest due to your time in the Marine Corps. Since our reconnection, I've seen some one that has taught me to be proud of being a Ranger, something I was never ashamed of, but something I always kept quiet. You've battled your health issues and been a dear friend ever since. Never ever afraid to yell from the rooftops that the Ranger Battalion is second to none.

David Raad - I've missed you since you ETS'ed. From the kid they made hold a grenade to stay awake to by far my go to guy as one of my team leaders. Physically unsmokable, and caring enough to write letters to your fire teams parents about the great things they were doing while in Bn. You've worked for DoS and now own your own whiskey distillery.  I'm super proud of you.

Derome West - Dude.. I don't know what to say. You grew to be perhaps one of the best I ever had the honor of leading. You were honestly, my favorite. You've grown to greatness in the DPS, I could not be more proud.

Samuel D. - we grew up together in Weapons Squad, spent time in Florida together, Got married early, had kids early. Older guys who had to suck it up when the young Tabs skinned us up. Your my brother, I miss you often.

Eddie - I suspect you'll end up in the Ranger hall of fame. We spent almost 10 years together, you know how I feel about you. Your my hero.

If any of the above sounds cheesy, keep in mind, we often take for granted the time we spent together and that is a shame.  Those were the years that defined us.  It took us beyond our limitations and made us men of the Ranger Creed.

Finally...

John David - I suspect you've stayed away because of that stupid PLF off that C130.  But you went on to do great, great things with your career. Your a GWOT warrior and the rumors of your shennanigans are legendary.  We went to RIP together, grew up in Bn. together and I have memories of you that will never ever be forgotten. Know this old man, there is not a name on the list above that does not owe some measure of gratitude for the example you set. You kept us all in line in your own crazy way. You fought for us on more than one occasion, skinned us all up when we needed it and while I should not speak for all of us, Set the Example for all of us to follow.

I hope you of all people will attend one of these before we all get to old. These stories we could tell should perhaps be kept OPSEC, but you were one of us then, certainly one of us now.

All of you know, I'm but a phone call away should you ever need anything.  I'll be at the 30th, even if I'm there alone

Hopefully you all read this, I'll be deleting it soon.

RLTW!

WRJ