Half a lifetime ago, it was esprit de corps.  It was smoking breakfast, sleeping through lunch, and drinking dinner.  It was hard working weekdays, and lazy weekends. It was little pay and long hours, and not caring about either.  

Half a lifetime ago, days went by as years.  The soundtrack was Blink-182 and Korn. The beer was warm and cheap, and almost all “home-cooked meals” consisted of some form of noodles or junk food.  The only feelings were that of morning humidity and skinned knuckles. My brothers and sisters “in-arms” all shared in this routine eagerly. We’d all been through the same things, in the same places, around the same time.  

Half a lifetime ago, 15 people would pile into 3 cars on a Saturday drive to the beach.  Seven would return in a state best described not as “wasted”, but “happy”. The remaining eight would have stories to tell.  There were no real bills and our biggest concerns were being on time and in uniform for Monday morning’s 5 mile run.

It was, simply put, fun.  I miss it. Those were some of the best days of my life.  Before I was a widower. Before I was a father. Before I had even met Megan, or even cared about meeting anyone.  It was carefree routine, peppered with deployments to some far off land for a few months, again with the same brothers and sisters. Sure, there were arguments.  There were times when we had to suffer through trying to sleep in 100+ degree desert heat, because we pulled the night shift. There were times when we had to wait for hours in line at the base barber shop, because every single Marine gets a haircut, every Sunday.   There were times when we blew our car payment money on that cheap beer, and the Monday morning run was done with a hangover. But it was all worth it.

Or was it?