Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
I did meet some nice people in California, a couple of which I am still friends with 10+ years later. I ran in the Big Sur marathon, camped among the big sequoias, played golf at pebble beach, volunteered for paddock security for every Laguna Seca race, spent a weekend in Yosemite, went backpacking through death valley, toured Alcatraz, drove across the Golden Gate bridge, and drove the length of hwy 1 from Monterey down to Morro Bay. I did a lot of fun things there, but just couldn't live there.
I did the majority of these events with a fellow soldier and good friend by the name of Michael Taylor. He was a tax lawyer from upper New Jersey. His brother worked in the South tower of the World Trade Center and was killed on 9/11. He gave up his practice and joined the military to honor his brother. He was an avid motorcycle rider. Leaving the base one day, I was behind him a stop light just outside of the gate to the base. There was an anti-war rally going on outside the gate. One of the protesters walked up him on his motorcycle and spit on him, then proceeded to call him (and all military) the "the world's real terorrists from the bottom 1% of society." He just sat there, the bike idling, just staring at them. The light changed and he went on about his business. He never said anything about it.
He died in the fall of 2010 after coming home from a 15 month deployment. He got off the plane, was welcomed home by his wife and daughter, and they were driving home. Less than 2 hours after landing back in the US, just 15 minutes from his home, a drunk driver blew through a stop sign and t-boned them, causing the car to flip and roll. He died on the way to the hospital. His wife is permanently bound to a wheelchair. His 3 year old daughter was strapped in her car seat and fortunately only suffered minor cuts and bruises. Ironically, the drunk driver that hit them was a lawyer.
Wow, that is tragic.
Thanks for sharing this story. Thanks as well for your service, I certainly appreciate it.