Fuck...anyone ever get floored by the past?

[MarinePMI]

Sitting here at the end of SOFIC, hanging out at the hotel having a glass of wine (no comments you fucking heathens), and a guy walks up to me and goes "Hey, did you just retire?" I look up and say "No, it's been a few years since I got out" . He follows with, "I saw you walk in and recognized you, but I can't place where". I look at him and ask where did you serve and he says "I was AFSOC". I looked at him again and ask "Northern Iraq? at the beginning of OIF?" and a barrage of memories coming flooding back as he said "Yeah....". I said "Mildenhall. Your team had just exfilled and had lost a man." The guy's eyes lock, and then go wide. "Yeah!" This is followed by a couple "how have you been" and "glad to see you're doing well" comments. As he's walking off, he tells his buddy exactly what I'm thinking..."Damn, it's small world!". I'm still sitting here with a barrage of memories flooding my brain about that time and what was going on...stuff I had filed away and rarely think about these days.

Fucking weird. Unsettling a bit, but at the same time, I was glad to see the guy again. Smdh....talk about the past reaching up and yanking you by a chain....

Anyone else ever go through this, or had this happen to them?

15 years later and halfway around the world....fuck. What are the fucking odds?!!?!??!

Fuck me running...smh...

 

[Maggot]

Not military but ...YEP.

Have another glass of wine.

 

[Marinevet1]

Met a girl in Hong Kong that knew my ex wife......Ran into a couple of round eyes in the airport, got to talking with them, told me where they lived, and I ask the address. She said why do you want the address, told her my ex was from the city that they lived, probably couldn't tell her what side of the street, but I could get close. She ask me what her name was, and I told her, her response was "oh fuck"......I used to date her cousin.....it is a small world.

 

[oneshot86]

good for you bro, suck it all in

 

[Va_Gentleman]

I am just going to shoot it straight.

I get the fact that it's a small world, and I have some stories to tell about running into people that know others or that I encountered before, but nothing like this.

Your story about crossing paths in a Hotel Bar with a brother-in-arms that you encountered as they exfilled with a fallen brother in a war zone just made me go ape-shit. Why?

I have been commenting all week on the fact that Memorial Day Weekend is all about Sales, Promos, BBQ's.. friggin TV commercials with come to Lowe's or Home Depot for our Memorial Day Sale! Fuck. That. Shit!

This weekend is for the fallen and the ones that were with them. Not for selling fricking Kenmore's.

 

[Redmanss]

I was standing in line for Subway at KAF around '09, saw one of my main headache CPLs when I was with CAAT in line in front of me wearing SSgt chevrons. Not fifteen years, only eight, but it's always a small world.

 

[Rthur]

Mine was in an airport at the ass end of a concourse at DFW.
Not that long ago.
Sitting there minding my business charging my phone.
See a guy coming down towards the last gate.
Have shot at matches he attended but never got to bullshit with him.
Struck up a conversation and had a good bullshit session.
What are the odds we were going to the same destination and on the same connecting flight?

R

 

[Threadcutter308]

I am just going to shoot it straight.

I get the fact that it's a small world, and I have some stories to tell about running into people that know others or that I encountered before, but nothing like this.

Your story about crossing paths in a Hotel Bar with a brother-in-arms that you encountered as they exfilled with a fallen brother in a war zone just made me go ape-shit. Why?

I have been commenting all week on the fact that Memorial Day Weekend is all about Sales, Promos, BBQ's.. friggin TV commercials with come to Lowe's or Home Depot for our Memorial Day Sale! Fuck. That. Shit!

This weekend is for the fallen and the ones that were with them. Not for selling fricking Kenmore's.

Good for you..........Thank You.....For Everything !

 

[Maser]

I can think of a few pics of me back when I was 15 and 16 that certain people love to bring up all the time as if it has any real relevance in the present.

 

[j-huskey]

And you drag your mind back to now, put the stuff back in the bag, in the cabinet, and shut the door...
And for a few days, wonder which dimension you living in, because you in two places in your head,
Then a week later, maybe, back in the grind. You (of today) again .
Until next time.

 

[SilentStalkr]

Yes sir, it’s happened to me on a number of occasions. Two of them, like yourself, were halfway around the world. But, I believe people pop in and out of your life for a reason. You may never understand why you ran into him again that day, but something tells me one of you needed it for whatever reason.

 

[hic28]

First, why are you drinking wine. Fag.

Second, the guy who bought the place next to mine graduated HS the same year as me in the same city, rival school but we all know the same people. My HS had 4200 kids when I was there.

Third, the last family vacation I went on with my parents to Europe in 09, my mom ran into a college friend of hers. They graduated in the early 70s

Fourth, drink beer or whiskey like a real man. Fag

 

[Diver160651]

15 years later .

The takeaway is, your loosing your memory, he remembered you and his is still sharp ~


Busting chops in fun but no were nearly as bad as hic28

 

[pmclaine]

At Logan Airport flying to Greensboro NC, plane delayed due to a mechanical issue so friend and I spent an extra 4 hours sitting in the airport.

The airport is just starting to button up all the restaurants and stores as my friend and I sit with other travelers waiting for the plane to get fixed.

So we have been there for about 6-7 hours and I said to my friend "Can you believe we haven't seen anyone in this airport yet that we know?"

And literally within a minute of saying it I hear a shout "Phil?"

It was my neighbor from across the street returning home on a flight.

Weird timing.

Another one, service related...

While MSG "serving" in Geneva Switzerland at one of the Marine House parties we had a bunch of ex-pats and what have you over at the house. Im talking to this girl and she asked where I was before I became MSG and I said with a unit in Camp Lejeune, NC.

She gets all excited and says "Oh maybe you know my cousin!"

and I tell her "There are some 200K Marines in the Marine Corps. Everyone thinks we all know each other."

she said the name and he was a kid in HQ Wpns 3/8 81 MM mortars and I knew him quite well as we were both from Boston and I was HQ Wpns 3/8 Dragons.

 

[hic28]

Busting chops in fun but no were nearly as bad as hic28

I’m just bitter cause I won’t be there Sunday to talk shit. Gotta get my hits in now

 

[Codiekfx400]

I would like to thank all the Veterans here for their service. Thank you.

 

[DuneBoer]

I'm sitting on my deck after polishing off a bottle of wine. Hey,it was pasta nite! I read this after having a "Its a small world" experience yesterday. I was driving down a shitty road in the middle of bumfuck, I mean where the hoot owls fuck the buzzards. I have driven that road a hundred times out through the sage brush and never seen another living person. The closest "town" is Denio NV. I see another rig and pull over. Older gentleman missing a few fingers gets out and we discuss road conditions because of the torrential spotty rain. Long story short. He was from my home town I graduated and played sports with his son. We both laughed. It was funny but weird.

 

[Ghost1941]

Came back from Germany a year ago after an exercise. Walking through the connection airport to hop another flight and I came across a guy that I knew in high school. He lives in Colorado now and was at the same airport at the same time for a connecting flight...

Small world indeed.

 

[ArmyJerry]

deep state keeping an eye on you, you drinking wine from a glass told them all the need to know.

cool story though, always good running into fellow shit doers, always

 

[Threadcutter308]

Yes sir, it’s happened to me on a number of occasions. Two of them, like yourself, were halfway around the world. But, I believe people pop in and out of your life for a reason. You may never understand why you ran into him again that day, but something tells me one of you needed it for whatever reason.

Yes, interesting. The older I get, the more open I am to this idea when something like this happens. It's quite intriguing.......

 

[Redmanss]

Mine was in an airport at the ass end of a concourse at DFW.
Not that long ago.
Sitting there minding my business charging my phone.
See a guy coming down towards the last gate.
Have shot at matches he attended but never got to bullshit with him.
Struck up a conversation and had a good bullshit session.
What are the odds we were going to the same destination and on the same connecting flight?

R

You reminded me of similar that happened to me in around 2011. My flight out of Dubai stateside was cancelled, got rerouted through Germany and O'Hare instead of straight into Dulles. While in Chicago, a fellow Marine from my first platoon whom I hadn't seen since '95 was catching a flight at an adjacent gate, he recognized me and we caught up in ten minutes before I had to board. Always awesome to see old buddies like that.

 

[WATERWALKER]

So I’m working in Texas about 12 years ago & I meet this lady & her husband (elderly couple) w/ a Michigan plate on their vehicle. During this encounter I find out why they’re in the area, where they’re from, etc. I mention to them that we share the same hometown. The lady looks at my name tag & tells me “When we were younger we used to hang around w/ this couple who shared the same last name,” & she also tells me where they lived, names of their kids, etc.

I was kind of dumbfounded for a second. The lady asked if she’d said something wrong & I told her she’d just told me they were friends w/ my grandparents & that the kids we’re my father & siblings. That was kind of surreal.

 

[powdahound76]

Wow.
When I was younger and fresh out of college, I shared a house with an older Jewish guy. He rented me a room cheap and with school to pay off I loved the price and he was an interesting character.
His folks had left Germany in 38 and he was born here in the States in TN.
In 2014 I saw him in Chopin International Airport in Warsaw. He had just been visiting and was a couple days from having been at Auschwitz where some of his parents cousins had been and died.
He was in a whole different world, having never seen the camps before.

I agree, these things that move us deeply happen for a reason.

 

[uffduh]

Had to move to Singapore to meet five peole I went to high school with twenty years ago and never knew. Probably wouldn’t have given them the time of day back then. We all became fast friends.

Speaking to the membership director of a club in a town I was moving to a few years ago. She said she knew someone with my last name forty years ago. Turned out it was my dad. Told him about it, he went quiet and something made me thing to say I wouldn’t tell Mom. He said ‘thanks son’. We never spoke of it again.

Never seen anyone I served with, but think of many of them often. Thanks to all who served and respect to those who gave all.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Wow.
When I was younger and fresh out of college, I shared a house with an older Jewish guy. He rented me a room cheap and with school to pay off I loved the price and he was an interesting character.
His folks had left Germany in 38 and he was born here in the States in TN.
In 2014 I saw him in Chopin International Airport in Warsaw. He had just been visiting and was a couple days from having been at Auschwitz where some of his parents cousins had been and died.
He was in a whole different world, having never seen the camps before.

I agree, these things that move us deeply happen for a reason.

It is unfortunate that there are not more citizens in the US that understand that this history was and is very, very real.......

 

[Barneybdb]

A couple of years ago a guy made a comment on our fishing forum that made me think he was ex military, when I questioned him it transpired that we were on the same recruit training course in Jan 1972, had not seen him since, I travelled Australia and the world for many years and ended up about 20 minutes from his place. As for airports I seem to run into people I know all over the world but never at domestic airports.

 

[Strykervet]

Constantly... But a lot of us still stay in touch and my teammate was just over yesterday and we were talking about old times. What floors me is seeing the ones I don't see often and how much they've changed. I know I'm getting older but for some reason my mind just doesn't accept it and that's what hits me the most.

That and seeing a couple guys I knew that didn't make it back that will always be twenty-something. To me, Memorial Day is about them. And the best thing you can do to honor them is to go to that BBQ and be with family because I fucking promise if they were here that's what they'd want to do.

 

[MarinePMI]

First, why are you drinking wine. Fag.

Second, the guy who bought the place next to mine graduated HS the same year as me in the same city, rival school but we all know the same people. My HS had 4200 kids when I was there.

Third, the last family vacation I went on with my parents to Europe in 09, my mom ran into a college friend of hers. They graduated in the early 70s

Fourth, drink beer or whiskey like a real man. Fag

Don't be a hater you fuck. (See you at the match on Sunday)

 

[MarinePMI]

I’m just bitter cause I won’t be there Sunday to talk shit. Gotta get my hits in now

Okay, now you're really going to get some shit the next time I see you (new baby must be keeping you busy),

 

[MarinePMI]

Thanks for the responses fellas, I appreciate the insight everyone else has shared. And thanks for the reminder, with work being so crazy, I completely forgot this was Memorial Day weekend. I'll have something to reflect on this weekend as we celebrate.

Time to get my ass on a flight back home...

Cheers.

 

[JSTARSZ]

I was 20 years active Army so it happens to me all the time but the latest one was pretty funny. I served with a LT in Alaska and I knew she had moved onto better pastures and had a more successful career than me and I now have long since retired and working for the Army as a civilian.

I was leaving to go to the bathroom and went to grab the door when in walks the then LT, now Brigadier General, with the whole entourage of big-wigs of my organization trailing her, and she stops, and says hey, I know you - mind you its been 15+ years ago. And she stops to talk old times with me and all the big-wigs are frowning at me because I am getting access that they want and messing up their times. But I stayed to talk because I don't really care what the big-wigs think.

My son has it happen to him a lot as he did the same MOS in the Army that I did and gets the hey, do you know JSTARSZ (not the name they used) and he says, yea that's my dad and tells me about and the memories come flooding back from where you severed with that person.

Cool thread.

 

[Deleted member 113831]

It happened to me at the 2010 SHOT show. I am walking through the main part of the show on the ground floor, and I see this very distinctive figure, with a small entourage, walking away from me with a gait I recognize. He is wearing ACU's... and is as red on his head as a dick on a dog. I call out "Hey, SGT Suggs!"

He stops and turns and starts to glare. Then his eyes widen, and he literally runs back over and gives me a hug. I say to him, "You red headed motherfucker! How you been!" I see all his entourage with funny looks on thier faces. Then I notice the rank... it seems that some one saw fit to promote that cheese eating, son of a bitch to CSgtM!

He had apparently evolved from the lowly E-5 that I used to toss around like a rag doll when we had our Battery wide "King of the Hill" contests in the motor pool (Bamberg, GE, Warner Barracks '93-'97) and had become CSgtM of recruiting for all of CONUS.

 

[Tucker301]

A couple of weeks ago I was getting ready to board a very early flight back home from New Orleans. In the TSA Precheck line and this woman is right in front of me, and I swear I've seen her somewhere before. at first I was hesitant to initiate contact, but I just knew she was familiar, so I tap her on the shoulder and she turns back to look at me, "You look very familiar. Have we met before?"

- I'm your wife, dumbass! Stop fucking around!

 

[Nik H]

Not military but horror nonetheless

In New Orleans at one of my favorite restaurants with my wife and who walks in and sits 3 tables over....my ex wife with her new boyfriend....

Both of us used to go to NO every other year and eat at that place. But what are the chances that we would both be there randomly. It reminded me how small the world is and how random events can occur.

The good news is she aged a ton during the last 18 years. Boy did I ever dodge a bullet there.

 

[oneshot86]

but did you grudge fuck her in the bathroom?

 

[MK20]

I ran into a guy during a JM brief stateside that I used to work with at a tiny little outpost on the other side of the globe. There were only about 30 Americans at the post and he was the guy flying in our supplies and stuff. It was one of if not the most remote post outside of Antarctica. A year and a half later I ended up having him fly me for a jump. It was weird seeing him in a uniform.

 

[fdkay]

I was involved in a similar story, though not war related.
I got stationed in Yorktown Va, many moons ago. I was in a small Navy rating and you frequently got stationed with folks you knew , though the majority of the time, you had your west-pac like me and other guys that stayed on the Atlantic side.
Anywho, when I first got to Yorktown. I was living on the local economy in Newport News, we were moving into an apartment, and we needed dinner, I knew I had seen a pizza joint coming into the apartment area. I went out to find it, took a wrong turn, but eventually found a genuine Sicilian pizza joint, as in, the owners were first gen sicilians in America. About 6 or 7 montha later, a buddy of mine also got stationed in Yorktown. We had been in the PI together, but previously, he had done a tour at our shop in Sicily and was married to a Sicilian girl. I told him about the shop, he and his wife went there, and lo and behold, they were from her hometown and she had grown up with them.

 

[jrassy]

I was on a Navy ship in the middle of the Pacific, I ran into a guy I went to high school with, I didn't even know he had joined the Navy, he didn't know I joined the Marines. Small world.

 

[500grains]

I was walking down the street in Taiwan and saw a college classmate. I went over and said Hi in English.

 

[pmclaine]

I was on a Navy ship in the middle of the Pacific, I ran into a guy I went to high school with, I didn't even know he had joined the Navy, he didn't know I joined the Marines. Small world.

Which one of you picked up the soap?

 

[hermosabeach]

The brain is funny- When I meet people and find out they served, I will never ask those dark questions.... It is amazing how much our brain stores away... and asking a few questions can go beyond resetting the OODA Loop and bring back a flood of memories and intense, even irrational, emotions....

Someone recently brought up a story from years ago when I got stabbed... it took a bit to bring back the details as people wanted to hear the story....
Names that were long forgotten, come back to the active memory...

I have bumped into people on side streets in NICE while on holiday, in bars in Central America.... I really have run into familiar faces in some strange places

 

[pmclaine]

How about smells and the feel of heat?

Ever step in to a weather induced memory?

 

[j-huskey]

How about smells and the feel of heat?

Ever step in to a weather induced memory?

Yes.

 

[hertz654]

How about smells and the feel of heat?

not so much the heat, but ever once in awhile the smell of Gillette foamy shaving cream takes me back to San Diego boot camp in 1980; up until then I shaved with an electric razor - every other month.

 

[hertz654]

a couple years back I was leaving Dairy Queen and I noticed a guy walking on the other side of the street that looked familiar. I call out his name and turns out it is my roommate (he Navy/me Marine) from my sophomore year (1985-86) in college, that I literally hadn't seen in 30 years. He was in town doing the Michelson Trail Trek. I've often wondered, a time difference of less than a minute and our paths would not have re-crossed.

 

[MarinePMI]

How about smells and the feel of heat?

Ever step in to a weather induced memory?

The smell of certain foods do it to me (the smell of real Spanish food always takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen).

That being said, certain...unpleasant smells, also bring back memories of distant times and places.

 

[Foul Mike]

There is a certain time when pork is cooking that makes my guts roll.
A smell you never forget.

 

[Bender]

A couple of weeks ago I was getting ready to board a very early flight back home from New Orleans. In the TSA Precheck line and this woman is right in front of me, and I swear I've seen her somewhere before. at first I was hesitant to initiate contact, but I just knew she was familiar, so I tap her on the shoulder and she turns back to look at me, "You look very familiar. Have we met before?"

- I'm your wife, dumbass! Stop fucking around!

I’m stealing this one.....

Lmaoooooooo

 

[WATERWALKER]

I was on a Navy ship in the middle of the Pacific, I ran into a guy I went to high school with, I didn't even know he had joined the Navy, he didn't know I joined the Marines. Small world.

I had a similar scenario happen as well. I was assigned Shore Patrol in Dubai, UAE & my partner was a guy I knew from high school. It was interesting catching up.

 

[Foul Mike]

Here is one I am not too proud of.
When I got home from RVN in 70 I had 20 days of leave that I spent with my parents but mostly with my Big Brother.
I met a beautiful young Latina named Kathy and we got along Great, and I took her with me every where I went; to the motorsicle races where she helped my Uncle and Big Brother pit my bike for the races, and let me do my best, which was good enough. Lots of good times and parties were involved over the whole 20 days. She was always there. I was Home and alive and had survived my year in the Jungle. Party Time
I was wild, nuts and crazy and kept after her until I got in her knickers and took many wild rides, one after another until I had to report to my next duty station.
1 year later I got my ETS and returned home and tried to look her up. i had the phone numbers but only got to talk to her parents and brothers who informed me, in no uncertain terms, that she was now happily married and had moved on. OK, I am cool with that. Times change and we move on.
Fast Forward, 22 years and My Squaw and I are in Villa Italia Mall in Lakewood and I look across the way and there is Kathy with her 3 children. Still looking mighty nice.
I saw her and she saw me so we both walked to the center of the area for a meetup, "How are you, You look great," etc. All is well.
She introduced me to her children and when the oldest one stepped up, my heart about stopped.
Other than his hair was a little darker, it was like looking into a mirror. The Son I never knew I had.
She told me that most definitely he was mine but had been born into her husbands family and don't rock the boat.
Her husband has since passed but I do stay in contact with her as after that meeting her son asked her," Is that my Father? "and she told him the truth.