the first was tom , a decorated VN vet he worked for DPMS building rifles , also a retired fireman , he worked the site of the gas explosion here and heroically saved the ladder truck and taught me to build ARs , i built a bit over a dozen back then under his tutelage , he worked the gunclub before i started working there , he also got me into reloading , i had the recipe  of what i wanted to load but he helped me understand the process , the checks  and balances as well as catting the bullets i load we spent a lot of time in his driveway casting bullets and sitting around our backyard campfires talking about the reloading , we shot sporting clays together , as well as trap , he tried to teach me to shoot skeet but i was never very good at that we shared a lot in the years i knew him , he passed a few years back and he is missed , 

the second was ed , first navy then marine as a medic , he also worked at the gunclub in retirement , he and i worked the counter in the clubhouse , he was also decorated VN vet , he had a great career in eyeware first then when he retired the first time he bought a log company that built log homes , i worked with him on my two log bank projects as a subcontractor , he proved to be a real asset , he was a democrat so i always refered to him as my favorite "liberal" it turned him red the first time i called him that but later he referred to himself as that he was a classic minnessota liberal , his family had always voted democrat so he did to , fter we talked a number of times my pointing out he was a kennedy democrat [that i liked] he came to understand what i was saying and he voted trump in the first trump presidency , he thanked me for pointing things out as i did , if he had lived he would have voted trump again , he finally realized the democrat party had left him out , i think it hurt him a lot but appreciated our talks that convinced him , 

the third is tim , also started navy then went marine again a decorated and combat wounded VN vet , also a medic , he is still among us , he works at the gunclub as a range officer , i enjoy his company and we both enjoy cigars together , he lost his wife a few years back and that was devastating but his son is impaired and lives with him so they have leaned on each other , they had two dogs ...one they had to put down a few months back , that hurt him deeply , the second a week later crawled into bed with him and passed away in the night that really hurt , but he and his son decided to get a puppy , that happened last week , ive yet to hear how thats going but they will be busy for the near future house braking and all that other stuff that goes with a dog , 

between these three , the man that hired me at the gunclub , also a friend  and the best friend i made here in MN who was the LE salesman at DPMS back then and remains my best friend today , we go fishing/shooting in southern IL every fall , smoke cigars , drink manhattans and talk of past and present events history as well as events of our lives ive been blessed in the second half of my lifetime , these were people that were everyday folks you could sit and drink coffee with , you could talk politics with in a civil tone , you could learn from , i learned a lot from each of them , im still learning and still sharing a lot of great times with the ones that are still living - and thats what prompted this post , im so happy to be able to say these men were my friends and needed to say it before it was too late