Posted by Alex Alexander on October 31, 2021:

I went to USMA Prep School with Step, roomed with him in the infamous Company D-1 at WP, and was dumped by my girlfriend the same week his dumped him. We travelled on the Glee Club together, and after graduation, at my marriage to Stevie, he was my best man, as I had been his at his marriage to Joanne. Then Ranger School, as Ranger buddies. At Ranger School, I remember him best for the horrific blisters raised by his brand-new leather combat boots (purchased for vanity, not function), and also from our misadventure rappelling down the beginner's cliff. He was bringing me down the cliff in a fireman's carry (I outweighed him by about 40 pounds). Halfway down the cliff, my weight flipped us both upside-down...yet he kept an iron grip on the rope, and slowly lowered us, safely, to the bottom, where my butt was the first thing to make contact, but gently. Tough little buzzard...as tough as he was smart and acerbic. Step was the most unlovable man that I ever loved like the brother-in-spirit that he was, and still is. I saw him infrequently over the years, notably on my 60th birthday, but always thought of him as my best friend...still do, and always will. Step was an original...a one and only...the most unique human being I have known. I'm proud to have known him, proud to call him friend, and wish he could know that he was more important to all of us than he knew.

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