Hey all,
US Army NCO, 10 Years and forcive medical retirement (100%).
I wasn't married when I got out and girl I was with for 6 years, well that fell apart.
Got out just as COVID hit, so I hit the ground running and kept myself alive. Been in emergency mode since then. Never was too close to my blood relatives - most are scum and the rest are too far away to bother with me. I landed in my hometown after a time because I thought I had found family here.
But I started to look around now and...there's no-one.
My highschool buddies keep looking at me expecting me to be the person they knew, but the version died in Afghanistan.
My soldier buddies are either too invested in their current careers - always climbing higher - or in emergency mode themselves.
If it wasn't for my job and my hobbies, I'd probably not talk to people beyond a "Hello" and "Goodnight" to neighbors.
I feel like an outlier, like I somehow I fucked up. Am I?