I don't have any friends outside of the guys I hang with at the VA. Frankly, I don't want any non-vet friends.

People who never served have no idea about anything. I don't get them and they don't understand me. I struggle with that with my family, my neighbors, and the other parents I run into when I'm carting my kids around to school and whatnot.

I'm a regular at my local VA. I'm in a substance abuse program (I have a bad habit of drinking too much) and I attend several PTSD groups as well. I ran into a buddy from one of my groups a few days ago. He was having a really rough time, got himself hospitalized, then somehow got them to discharge him. I gave the guy a ride to his place about an hour away as he was trying to avoid getting locked up in a psych ward. It was the best I felt in a long time. Having another guy next to me who I could implicitly trust to the end of the world was a nice change. We only stopped to get some cigarettes and a money order for his landlord, but I didn't feel nearly as naked and alone with another crazy combat-vet like myself by my side. I felt safe in a way I haven't felt since I was in the army.

Helping the guy escape the psych ward might not be the best thing I could have done by most people's standards, but it was what that guy needed at the time. As a guy who struggles like he does with substance use and reckless PTSD driven behavior, I did what I hope another person would do for me in my time of need.

Honestly, the messed up sort of broken vets are my sort of guys. They have been through the worst, they struggle with trying to live in the "civilized" world, and we get each other.