What am I looking for?

Not for the first time, I find myself obsessed with my past, and trying to find it, or at least parts of it, on the Internet. I've spent (wasted?) hours doing this. Why? What am I looking for?

I am a Reagan Era vet, or you could say a late Cold War vet. After I graduated from high school (1979) I went into the Ohio National Guard. I went to Basic Training that summer, and then trained as a medic until January. Then I went back home, terribly depressed, worked at several nursing home jobs, got fired from one. I worked at Camp Perry Ohio as active duty NG, where I horribly sexually harassed, and didn't even know it. Then I tried college, and after a quarter, even with good grades, I quit and went regular Army. I became an o5C, and went to 533rd MI BN in Hoechst Germany in 1981. I left there to go to DLI in 1983, 964 1/2 days later. I ETSed in 1986 and went to college.

Every so often I try to find out about people and places I knew for those short years, esp. the time I spent in Germany. It can become an obsession. Somehow, those years, while only few, loom large in my life, larger in many ways than college and grad school. I was 20 when I got there, and 23 when I left. The picture at the left is of me (center) around that age, in the barracks with some people I knew. I remember their names, but I won't post them here. I don't know if I can call them friends; I know we partied together. But I was immature, fragile, stupid, ridiculous, foolish, and I really did some f**cked up things, and I am sure that people don't have fond memories of me. Part of my quest to find people, I think, is to acknowledge my insanity, apologize, and show them that I have gone on to accomplish some good things in my life.

A couple of years ago I did find my old platoon leader, and it turns out that he lived in the same town my mother does. We got together, and it was a good lunch. It was so gratifying to find out what he had been doing with his life. On the sad side, I learned that one man I knew back in the 533rd MI BN (CEWI) had died of lung cancer at 52. He must of have been in his late 20s when I knew him.

I'd like to make some contact with people, even those I dated (loaded word) in those years. I assure anyone out there, I am not on the make! I just need to connect the dots in my life. I am curious as to what others are doing.

If anyone from the 856 ASA, 533d MI BN (CEWI), or 312th MI BN (1985-1986), or was a Polish 98G around that time. Here are some names:

SSG Peavey
1SG Jack D. Rife
Tom Staff
Donny Gruber
Elvis (David) Costillo
Millie Nagy Bright
Two guys nick named Butch (Mark Farris?)

In addition I remember a Polish national in the 1st Cav at Ft Hood, who was loaned to the 312th to help with language study. His name was Zbigniew Welewski, and I am sorry I can't add the diacritics to spell his name in proper Polish.