little bit of a wibble but you roll with the punches...

at least i wasn't gunned down on by a psycho on bondi beach or had my foot gloved off by some mental f**k in liverpool.

i met a feller by chance on winterton beach back in november, i say by chance but tbf i was sat there contemplating f**k all as usual minding my own but i was wearing a poppy as was my fenton.

so this lad comes across and asks how old the fenton is and then goes straight into "i am ex forces" so we strike up a chat and it turns out we were both in the same mob. i'm much older than him though so our paths didn't cross. we shot the s**t about mutual acquaintences and places and that.

he then asks me about my journey since leaving and i give him a potted history and he says "oh i wish i had such a decent outcome" and then just pours his raw heart to me. all really grim stuff with a lot of bad experiences and he ends up a proper sobbing mess.

he gave me his name and said to look him up on facebook which i did and his site is full of pics of him on tours and on ops all dressed up in uniform bristling with weapons and it's clear he can never ever leave the army. i know loads of lads like that.

i thought a lot about that encounter for a few days after and it shifted me a notch off my gyro for a bit but then i realised that there for the grace of whatever mystical being you chose to believe in, there go i.

getting stung with hefty car bill is small beer in the grand scheme.

Posted By: Tombs, Dec 16, 22:24:24