Loss of another great friend

As I get older, it seems to get scary when people start passing away who are younger than you. I was informed yesterday that an old friend of mine that I spent 20 years in the Guard with, Robert Peterson, passed away on Sunday after a brief bout with cancer. He was the First Cook when I first joined the section and later became Mess Sargent. We spent a lot of weekends together and annual summer camps every year. I learned a lot of things from Robbie. We went to Germany and Korea together and many other places with the Guard. I took over as Mess Sargent from him when he retired after 22 years in the guard. He really knew how to 'push my buttons' to get me to react to some of the stupid things that the officers would ask the section to do. Sometimes, he was joking and he would let me rant for an hour before he would smile and I would know he had done it again.

He had a very sly humor and you never really knew whether he was joking or not. He let Ed and me get away with a lot, like never really doing the PT test and doing silly stuff at summer camp that would have gotten us all in a lot of trouble. He could make gravy like no other. We could never make any a good as his.

I have spent the last few days thinking of all the good times we had with Rob and how much he will be missed. He was an excellent teacher, soldier and friend.