Not to Renege

O'Shea(OshYeah80) met Vasnner(Vas_blaster) soon after getting out of boot camp, when he actually had a little time and freedom to do things. The two weren't even on the same base. O'Shea was in Kentucky and Vasnner was in Germany. They met on Yahoo! games, playing euchre. The both of them being in the military was coincidental. Because the game allowed chatting among the players they quickly figured out that they were both in the armed forces, same branch even. It was nice for O'Shea because Vasnner was about 10 years older and he had some wisdom to pass down.

Vasnner was just ending his stint at this time, he was looking forward to being done with the military. It came to be that Vasnner, being shuffled around base-to-base on his way back home, and O'Shea, being shuffled off to Iraq, were at the same base at the same time. During their free time they both found a real game of euchre in rec room- the same one- and played. Both of their on-line names were plays on their actual names sowed on to their coats and so after some talking about the game they figured out that one another was the guy they'd been playing with on-line.

They became partners and talked, even after the game had ended, and found out that they were from the same county. Days later Vasnner made his way home, for good, while O'Shea was shipped off to Germany and then Iraq soon there after. They still played euchre on the internet, altho over the years the games with the two became less and less. After 6 years O'Shea was done with the army and he had hardly talked to Vasnner anymore, with the exception of a few random emails that were usually generated from O'Shea's combination of being drunk and cycling threw old contact lists for entertainment.

O'Shea went back home and made it a point to contact Vasnner. He wasn't drunk this time, just lonely. Dispite having a cushy position in Korea for the last two years, it was clear that O'Shea was not used to civilian life- still wound tight. He couldn't make friends and he pissed off all his old ones. Vassner felt sympathetic. They started to play cards on-line again. They still made good partners and won easily.

During the holiday season, Vassner, in the spirit of things, invited O'Shea to a dinner party he and his wife were throwing. It was the kind of dinner party where people whore sweaters. O'Shea was told explicitly to wear something nice, like a sweater, so he went out and bought one. O'Shea felt a little uncomfortable at first. He didn't know anyone there, but at lest Vassner, a near stranger in the physical world, was easy to talk to. The wine made O'Shea feel more comfortable and then mix drinks came after dinner. This made him feel even better.

Eventually O'Shea felt comfortable enough to be talkative with everybody. He was numb to the discomfort in the room he caused when telling stories that were mostly tactless to the ladies and crude to the gentlemen. Old war stories. Eventually most everybody was offended- not Vassner, but he was still embarrassed for all his guests. At the climax of evening an older guy, with grey-speckled hair, was dictating to O'shea how to find a good career now that he was out of the army. O'Shea punched and broke his tooth on the grounds that "he didn't know what the fuck he was talking about". O'Shea was shit faced at this point and Vassner called him a cab.

The older guy was never in the army himself, but he did have a sticker on his Camry that read "Support Our Troops". He had to get alot of dental work done, but it was all covered by insurence. While his mouth was still healing he would sometimes say to his wife, in a numb-lipped grumble, "what a disgrace that guy (O'Shea) was to the armed forces".

Vassner had to call the cab and get O'Shea out of there that night but didn't really mind beyond that. They were all mostly his wife's friends anyhow. Either way, O'Shea and Vassner feel back into the pattern of speratic electronic communications, even tho they continued to live in the same county. And then after a few years it all tapered off to silence.

Vassner hardly plays euchre any more. Doesn't really have time for games. He has a wife and a kid now, after all.