A few years ago, we reconnected on farcebook. I was stationed with him at Ft. Hood TX, in early '87. He PCS'd to Germany in March or April of that year.
He was my 'go to' Turret Mechanic in the Self Propelled Field Artillery. My MOS was the 'automotive portion' of the M109/M110 series Howitzers. His MOS, was the 'Turrets'. Fire Control, traversing, elevation, depression, etc, etc, etc.....
After reconnecting with him online a few years ago, we kept in contact.
Last Summer, I posted that my Bike was for sale, and offered it about 1/2 of what it was worth. There was nothing wrong with it, but I parked it in Nov. 2019. I didn't even drag it out of the shed and try to start it. I had lost interest in riding, and just "wanted it gone".
He hit me up and called me. We talked, and 'sold!' He'd come up in a couple weeks and trailer it home (since it had been almost a year since it ran). Sadly, his sister passed away just prior to the weekend he was gonna come up to get the bike. That set his plans back about 5-6 weeks.
Early October, he calls me and says, "I'll be there in 2 days". He showed up that Friday evening. We had BBQ, a couple cold ones, and 'shot the bull' for hours! Since I have only 1 bedroom, I got him a motel room for the night.
Anyway, a buddy of his that he was stationed with in Germany (after he left Ft. Hood), lives about 45 minutes from me. The 3 of us had breakfast on the deck that morning.
I found out that my 'Brother' passed away, on Jan. 11th. I sent him a text late that evening, and he never replied. Looking at his farcebook page, his last post was about 6 hours prior to the text i sent him. His son posted 3-4 hours later, that he had passed. F***ing blood clots!
He was 55.
R.I.P. Rufus! You were a good, honest, quiet man, that never 'stirred the pot', didn't take no shit from anyone, and always did what you said you were gonna do! I will miss our conversations and our Brotherhood!