Ratty,
I have friends made almost 40 years ago when we flew combat missions in Vietnam and Cambodia. Despite the rank differences, over time we developed a bond that transcends military formality requirements. I remained an Officer and they remained enlisted soldiers but it was not rank alone that engendered the strong trust and repect we felt for the other while serving together. I looked to these folks as being professionals, good at what they did and someone I could rely upon to maintain the aircraft, crew the aircraft, and in the worst of cases stand shoulder to shoulder with me if confronted with a need to fight on the ground.
These men earned my deepest respect and trust because of who they were, how they performed their duties, and their good spirits when we all faced the same dangers together as a crew. We faced the same risks, ate the same food, drank from the same tin cup sometimes but we did so as a crew not individuals.
I am going to have lunch with four of them this coming Friday....and I look to them as brothers not as subordinates from past times. We will certainly talk about old times...laugh at the funny things....re-live some of the exciting times....talk of old friends that are no longer with us.
Shared risk brings people close together. Bonds forged in combat remain strong.
I was lucky to serve with some very good people, quite ordinary most of them until a need for a special act arose then they became extra-ordinary in their response.
A young Flight Engineer in my unit got out of a crashed Chinook carrying a large number of Vietnamese soldiers. He realized the aircraft was on fire and would be consumed quickly. He made repeated trips into the burning aircraft and dragged many injured people out of the burning aircraft. He continued to do so until the aircraft exploded and he burned to death inside the wreckage.
One can only admire brave men like that and I consider myself to be very fortunate to have been allowed to fly with men of that quality.