Out of the Army

So it's done, over, finished, completed.  I am officially separated from the US Army.  It was under honorable circumstances.  I have a medical condition that would not allow me to fully function as a soldier anymore.  Now I'm staying in the area of my last duty station, doing foster care, looking for work, and I am about to start school to get a Bachelor's Degree in Business.  I'm going to miss the camraderie that comes with being a soldier.  I don't know when I go back to the civilian job world if I'll ever feel about my coworkers the same as I felt about the people I served with in the military.  I won't say I was close friends with everyone I ever worked with, but even if you didn't get along, or had different views, likes, dislikes, whatever... you always had at least that one thing in common.  We were all there for different reasons, but we worked hard, served our country, leaned on each other, pushed each other, irritated the hell out of each other, and even though we would never admit it out loud, we all loved each other like family.  The army has changed a lot since my dad's army, but it still has that one redeeming quality... it brings people together and forces them to work as a team, and along the way of learning to become a team, they become a family.  So even though I may be officially out of the army, I will always be a part of the family, and I will never forget the people I have worked with over the past ten and a half years.  I have learned a lot from them, taught a few of them some things, and made many life long friends.