My Friends, My Friends.

We were a small group but we were tight. We all met around the same time, Todd was the first I had met in the 6th grade. Larry, Jeff, John, Dennis & I met a year later. Dennis stood out as he had a full beard in 7th grade, (not even kidding). And upon meeting him I swore that he had been held back so much that he had to be 25, but he was our age. His father had been a Green Beret and had taught him a great deal about survival and hand to hand combat. We all gravitated towards him for this reason as we had a strange fascination for the Vietnam war and those that had served in it. This was around 1983 - '84 and I believe we did this as we all had at least one family member that either served in the war or had been affected by it in some way. But this also made us misfits in school as we were the only ones in camo and field jackets with some of the medals our relatives had given us pinned to he collars and combat patches on the sleeves. You could feel the looks and hear the conversations of some of the other kids that just didn't understand us at all. But we didn't care.

After I had met Larry and Jeff they invited me to the field where they said they would meet Dennis to participate in some exercises he learned from his dad, I thought it was a little strange but I agreed. We arrived at a small mound above a creek bed deep in a cornfield behind the Gold Circle in our neighborhood. Dennis was going to meet us there I was told. As we waited they both enlightened me on how cool Dennis was and what they all learned together, and how they used pellet guns to simulate combat, (This was way before paint pellets which looking back now would've been so much kinder than actual lead pellets and B.B.'s but I digress.), I then remember thinking, "WTF have I gotten myself into?!"

They had then started talking about Pugil stick fighting, the act of two combatants using staffs against one another to conquer the other. It was the first time I had ever heard of it and it sounded fun as the staffs were supposed to have pads on each blunt end. At that moment I heard some rustling behind but by the time I turned around to look I had been hit twice in the chest then the head and I felt a sweeping motion beside my leg, a staff taking my legs out from under me and my body flying into the air landing on my back! As I cleared my head and looked up there was full bearded adult looking man holding his hand out to help put me back on my feet with a staff in the other hand which was nothing more than a large branch with no padding, "My fault man. I didn't expect you to go down so hard! Ha Ha Ha! I'm Dennis and this whole thing was their idea." As he pointed to Larry & Jeff who were now laughing so hard I thought that they would roll down the embankment into the creek. As he helped me up I brushed myself off and let him know that I was impressed, embarrassed but impressed. From that moment on we would spend many, many days and nights in those woods and fields dressed in full camo with him teaching us everything he had ever learned from his father.

Dennis was driven to be just like his father, he admired him so much that I believed it consumed him. You see, he had lost his father around the age of 12 in an accident and this was tormenting him, always at the front of his mind. Always pushing him to mature faster than one should. But despite the loss he was also kind, dedicated and overly protective of his sister, the only sibling he had. Since his mother was very overbearing and demanding, his sister was the only person that understood what he was going through. And I related to that myself as I felt the same way over my own sister. He could also be overly generous a trait that would betray him later in life. What can I say, people suck.

In 1987 I had reached a point in my life where I needed change. I had signed up for the Marine Corps in a delayed entry program, and a couple of months before I was ready to ship out I was asked by my recruiter to take the entry test for someone else so he could get his numbers up that month for a bonus. I refused and was let go from my contract. All I ever wanted was to be a Marine, I was devastated, confused and angry. At that same time Dennis had signed up for the Army and it seemed he going to finally fulfill his dream of following his fathers footsteps. But a few months in he had also been discharged for medical reasons. Never making it into the 82nd Airborne, never following in his father's footsteps.

He would never be the same...

He travelled to Florida and stayed with family there, helping his Grandfather build an A Frame home in the middle of nowhere. So the next time he came up for a visit he convinced me to move in with him to Venus Fl. I stayed a year before I decided to come back due to the lack of work there at the time. But Dennis had found his forever home, he adored the state, the swamp, the people, and the isolation he could emirs himself in. I think he also lost himself there.

Over the years we would get together and reminisce about so many memories we had all created together, the parties, the relationships and all the failures. Being chased out of Skate World in Kettering, Ohio one night by EVERYONE there, (But that's another story).

Then came the day that his daughter had been murdered in her sleep, a surreal moment that until your in it doesn't seem possible. She was also a good soul like him. Caring, intelligent and in the military living with her boyfriend at the time who decided that it was better to end her life rather than be an actual man and face whatever issue they had head on. Larry and I met him in Columbus for comfort and anything else he might need. We knew that if the man responsible had gotten released for any reason Dennis was gonna need us, for "whatever" reason.

But he got through it, well... he managed.

You called me a few years later to tell me you were sick, not doing well at all. That it was no big deal and I shouldn't worry. And more time passed and you still down played everything trying to save us all from the severity of it.

You passed on April 18th 2025, right after I had spoken with you a day or two earlier. You told me not to come down, that Larry and I should just hang tough, stand down. The request of a true soldier something you always were in your heart despite what the Army had decided. You said it had been a pleasure calling Larry and I brothers, and I responded with what an honor it was to have called you a friend.

Last week August 22nd was your birthday, I picked up the phone then realized...

I love ya brother, and I'll see ya soon.