Posted by Tom Watson on July 9, 2008:

One of the curses of getting old is that you lose touch with friends, good friends, with whom you had great memories for a multitude of reasons. I knew Bob only as a Cadet and then really mainly at the Greatest Summer of Our Lives at Buckner. It really was a great summer, no FOB Buckner with 24x7 training pressure. When we trained we trained hard and when we were off, we indulged in the lazy summer pleasures of Lake Popolopen. We were in a great squad of a great platoon where we had an unbelieveable chemistry as a team and as friends. Bob and I did just about all the training together with Kenny Dunn, as ex-Airborne enlisted guy that intimidated the cadre. Bob was content with his lot in life as all he wanted to do was be in the 82d as an Airborne trooper so that he could wear his jump boots with his Greens. His attitude was as adaptive and laid back as humanly possible during off hours, and he defied the laws of biochemistry by spending an entire weekend racked out after Infantry training, an amazing feat. He was cheerful, positive, and cared about his friends and team mates. Can we slow down time a bit to rectify the coulda, woulda shoulda things in life that we overlooked or took for granted? Adios Bob.

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