The need for battle buddies, even after combat

By GUEST COLUMNIST 

Published: July 12, 2012

Alicia Thompson served with the Army’s 554th Military Police Company in Afghanistan in 2006. Her post-deployment struggles were recently featured in the documentary“Service: When Women Come Marching Home.”

The relationship between battle buddies does not compare to that of a mother and child, best friend, romantic or even sibling. This relationship is much deeper than each of those relationships because your life is in the hands of your battle buddy and theirs is in yours.

If someone slacks, slips or does not pay attention, that can be not just one, but multiple lives. The trust between battles is unspoken and pure. This trust is earned through hours and hours of training, working together and simply being stuck with one another all of the time.

It is an intricate dance of teamwork, knowledge and understanding few will ever truly understand. Combat is a team sport, where no one goes it alone.

There is not always a way to help your battle buddy, but you always try find a way. No matter the risk to your life, regardless of whether you will be in danger, it is your duty to help them. True battle buddies you will put their lives on the line for one another. You would die to save them, and when you cannot it haunts you forever.

Even when you are discharged from the military and Uncle Sam seems to have forgotten you, your battle buddies are still there.

After leaving the military, many veterans try to find some sense of normalcy. But nothing can change what has happened to you. You have changed, and you will never be the same person again.

Your battle buddies know that, and they are still there -- usually just a phone call, email or Facebook chat away -- no matter what.

You do not have to physically serve with someone for them to be your battle. Regardless of rank, branch or specialty, a servicemember is always a servicemember. We are all on the same team and we all have the camaraderie of knowing what it is like to put our lives on hold and fight for our country.

Every time a battle buddy dies, a piece of us dies. I will always miss and honor those that were killed and injured while I was deployed in Afghanistan. Every day I wake up with the pain of knowing that I cannot change what happened and the guilt that I made it home and they did not.

They are my battle buddies and now my angels that look out for me from above. I know I will always have an angel (or two) watching my back just as they did while they were alive.

Link- The need for battle buddies, even after combat - The Ruptured Duck - Stripes

The Ruptured Duck - Stripes