Donna and I spent the last week in Brunswick, Ga., at the Golden Isle RV Park. Nice place. But rather than talk about our relationship this time, I want to talk about two men I met there.

Both men were camped next to me, which is how we met. Both were Viet Nam war vets. They saw my USAF Retired tag on my toad, and that's what opened the conversation. One completed a full 20 years in the Army. The other served just one tour in the USAF. Both were enlisted when they were in the military. I was an officer. I never served in Viet Nam, even though my service began in 1973. But none of that mattered. We were brothers. We had experienced military life, with all its trials and tribulations, and we had survived. We didn't even swap war stories. That didn't seem to matter. If you listened to our conversation, you might never guess, once the initial introductions were made, that we were military vets.

What made these conversations notable to me is how we "clicked," how comfortable we were instantly with one another, regardless of the topic of conversation. Knowing each other only a few minutes, we were willing and able to share even some pretty personal stories about our trips on the road, some of the laughter and some of the pain. Making friends quickly is skill you develop in the military because your survival, literally, may depend on knowing the man, or woman, next to you. It's a good skill.

This was by no means an isolated case. When I decided to pay the state of Alabama a few extra bucks to have a USAF Retired tag for my Saturn, I never thought it would bring so many wonderful guys into my life. I know from experience, lots of women have served honorably and well, but I just haven't met any of them in RV parks yet. Hopefully some day I will. For now, I am just grateful to get to know these people who have given so much to keep this land free. We may have served in different time periods and in different theaters of operation and even in different branches of the service. But for those of us who have served, we know the bonds. We have been there and done that. We are brothers.

If you see a military retired tag on someone's toad, go up and introduce yourself. You'll find some really great people. One of those just might be me.