...19, fun loving, out spoken, lively, loud, funny, obnoxious, a great guy, a solider, a friend, a son, a brother in arms...dead. i remember the first time i met ready, almost a year ago in ft. leonard wood, mo. we were both just coming into the army, both as engineers. ready always stood out among the crowd. usually he was the guy making us laugh, or doing something that got us fucked up. either way, u either loved or hated ready. i was somewhere in between, depending on my mood and ready's. regardless, he was a good guy, whether or not he wasnt the brightest guy. i remember when we first got to basic training, he ended up having to smoke our entire platoon, but the drills said he and matlock chose to do so to get themselves out of it. we found out later, towards the end when everything was made clear, he begged to get his balls smoked instead of us. it doesnt sound like much, but then it was. i remember the arguments we would have, the fights, and how stupid and petty they were. finally we graduated. we got to our duty stations, and ready deployed two weeks later. before he left, we were able to talk and apologize for all the stupid shit, because imminent(sp?) deployment makes you and those around you grow up quick. we didnt hear much from williams, wells, or ready for a while. that is until we came back from jrtc. cole found a message from williams: ready got blown uo, like hes dead blown uo. wells got blown up, but he only got fucked up blown up. hes alright, but readys dead. the first group from basic/ait to deploy, the first to take casualties, and kias. thats a hard hitter. it makes me nervous. scared. sad. theres a lump that moves between my stomach and my throat ever since i heard the news. i want to cry, but tears never come. what will happen to me when i see one of my buddies get fucked up for real in iraq? or a child? i dont know how ill hold up to that, if i do hold up. i just dont know anything anymore. rest in peace and glory buddy. d-35 together in life and death.