I went back to college late and graduated in 2015. I hink about 2013 I was in a class and the instructor was a veteran. It's the first or second class of the year right before 9/11. The instructor said "Have I not told y'all my 9/11 story?" Which he hadn't, and then he did.

But what we realized from this, because I was about his age and we were the only two old people in there, was that everybody else in the room was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened. It is a non-event to them. They don't have significant memories about it. It's just something they read about. And that's for people that are 34 or 35 years old now.

Of course I'm not saying every 35-year-old doesn't have a memory of it. I remember the Challenger blowing up. And that's probably about the equivalent for me. I don't have a significant emotional memory from that. I just remember that it happened.

And if anybody wants to know what this instructor's 9/11 story was. He was in Hawaii in the Navy. I believe I knew he was a veteran but I didn't know what he had done in the Navy. So he's telling his story and they had to grab their go bags, which was an indication to me that this guy wasn't just a cook. They had to get to the base. And this is really early because of the time zones. So I think he's saying it's like 4 in the morning or something. Everyone barely knew what was going on at this point. And they get to base and the gate is closed because we're under attack. So they had to grab their bags and haul ass across this bridge on foot.

Anyway, at some point either then or throughout the semester he told us he had started out as a machinist mate and served in Somalia (Blackhawk Down movie). And then he had transferred to Naval intelligence where he was then attached to the SEALs. He saw combat on two more continents with them. That means he was in combat zones on three different continents in his career and I figured that's probably pretty rare today. Maybe not so much during World War II, although maybe.

The thing is, I didn't really get into this, but this was a total nerd looking guy. Nerd glasses. Smedium shirt. Total finance nerd sitting here teaching a finance class. Working on his phd. You look like he stayed home on Friday nights eating Cheetos and watching Star trek. I never would have imagined that he had this kind of military career. Although I should have because I had known other veterans who had this same nerdy and very unassuming demeanor.

So he was just living his best life. Riding is Harley to campus. Dating freshman. That's not a joke. Teaching finance and working on his phd.