Social Networking at its Finest

Let’s talk social networking for a bit.

I joined Facebook a bit ago, but never did much with it. I just let it sit there. It didn’t interest me that much. I was more interested in creating my LinkedIn page for business networking.

I wasn’t even paying much attention to it until Craig Nelson found me.

Craig was one of the closest friends I’ve had in my life. We were stationed in Muenster, Germany from 1989-91 at the 184th Ordnance Company. I liked Craig immediately when I met him. He was smart (exceptionally so), witty and a bit cocky. We had similar personalities in that we wanted to “experience” Germany, not just “live” there. We took German in college courses and always wanted to be on the “economy” and not on base. I loved Craig like an older brother.

After Craig found me on Facebook, we found Steve Angelastro, another of our 184th brothers. Steve was my roommate for the majority of the time I was in Muenster. He was the most lovable guy I’ve ever met. He was (and probably still is) motivated by making people smile. However, he had the worst taste in women any of us had ever seen and the most annoying habit of grabbing an unguarded video camera. I couldn’t have asked for a better roommate for those years.

Once Angel was in the mix, it didn’t take long for Phil Mainz to join. Phil and Steve are friends who live in the great city of Chicago. To put it plainly, during our time in Germany, there was something wrong with Phil. He was that guy who guzzled Pepsi and chain-smoked Marlboro’s for two years. Every day in the chow hall, the guy ate a cheeseburger. He could have had anything but he chose a cheeseburger. He loved to offend but was secretly a nice guy. He’d go out of his way to help a friend. However, he may still own a compromising photo of me with his inflatable Gumby.

A couple days ago, Angel found Ed Kratil on Facebook. Ed was the original nice guy. While the rest of us were heathens in various stages of development, Ed was quiet and calm. He was mature beyond his years. He had a great sense of humor and was smarter than the rest of us. If anyone was counted on to help our group make the right decision, it was Ed.

Okay, so how would I describe me at 20 years of age? Well, I wanted to get laid (although wasn’t very successful at it). I wanted beer. I wanted to laugh with my friends. I didn’t go home for more the 2 ½ years I was in Germany because the guys above were my family. I cried when I left and was depressed for a bit when I got home. Even now, it’s tough remembering that.

I wish I could tell you more about the guys, but I don’t have the time or the space. Just know that they were family.

So far we’ve found five of us. We’re still missing part of the old crew, but hopefully we can pick up a few more. And maybe we’ll even get together at some point.

But we need to keep the video camera away from Angel.