Yesterday Was Veterans Day. Today, Call Your Battle Buddy.

As is my practice on both Veterans Day and Memorial Day, I went through the contacts list on my phone yesterday and randomly called a bunch of fellow veterans, concentrating on people that I haven’t spoken with in a while.

Some calls went straight to voice mail. Some numbers were no longer in service, or now belong to someone else. But many of the calls connected. Some of the resulting discussions were very short. Some lasted for a half hour or more. I called people who worked for me, and people who outranked me. Enlisted, warrant, and officer. Men and women. Combat veterans or not. Currently serving or separated/retired. Conservatives and leftists. It doesn’t matter—veteran status knows no boundaries.

I do this for a couple of reasons, but the main one is because I remember the way it felt the first time it happened to me. A few years ago, I received a call from a number I didn’t recognize, who turned out to be someone I served with more than 15 years ago. “Captain Faint?” the caller asked. Now, I haven’t been a captain for almost 20 years. But a phenomenon in the Army is that people tend to stay the rank they were when you first met them, whatever rank that might be. So, “Yes?”

“Hey, this is XXXX, this thing happened that made me think of this event that happened when we worked together and it made me think of you, so I got your number from XXXX and just thought I’d give you a call.”

“Oh wow, it is so great to hear from you! How is it going?”

The caller didn’t need anything from me, they just thought of me and wanted to know how I was doing. It totally made my day.

When I was making my calls yesterday, I had a bit of an epiphany. Yes, Veterans Day is for us and it’s a great day to check up on your battle buddies. But veterans need each other, and everyone else who loves and supports them, every day of the year.

In the military there is a concept known as a “battle buddy.” This is a person, either assigned or adopted, who is your designated partner. This is a person you trust, who has your back, who shares in the consequences of your decisions and failures. More broadly, it can refer to anyone you served with. To me, and to many other veterans, anyone who ever honorably served in uniform is my battle buddy. And it’s smart to check in on your battle buddies. It’s good to re-connect with your fellow veterans; it helps remember the good times and the reasons why you served. Also, you never know how a quick re-connection might help create an opportunity of benefit for one or both. But most importantly, you never know when they might need a little pick-me-up. And at the very least, as I know from personal experience it’s always good to know that someone is thinking about you.

So, today, the day after Veterans Day, call your battle buddies. Call a guy you served with a long time ago and haven’t talked to in ages. Call a sister in arms who recently got married or had a baby. Call someone who’s struggling. Call someone who’s doing well. Call a person you think about from time to time. Call someone you haven’t thought about at all since the last time you crossed paths. Even if you think they might not remember you or might not remember you as fondly as you remember them.

And especially if it’s someone that you may have had an issue with, either now or in the past, or someone who voted differently than you in the last election—perhaps ESPECIALLY if it’s someone who voted differently in the last election—swallow your pride, let go of the past, and make the call. Veterans are one of the last true melting pots in American society and America regularly looks for us for inspiration, and for leadership. And an important step in providing what America needs right now is for us to be united as a veteran community. Yeah, it could be awkward. You’ll probably get some calls sent to voice mail and not have them returned. But you could make a difference for a vet who needs it, by letting them know that they, and their service, are not forgotten.

And isn’t that worth the time?

Charles Faint served 27 years in the United States Army, much of which was in the Special Operations community. He completed seven combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as operational tours in Egypt, The Philippines, and the Republic of Korea. In retirement, he serves as the Managing Editor of the Modern War Institute at West Point. His articles in The Havok Journal do not represent an official position of West Point or the United States Government.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.