Work, War and Comedy

On a daily basis, I get to work with two gentlemen that I admire and respect quite a lot. This is a rare thing with work, because you invariably have ‘colleagues’ who drive you nuts. We all do. But what a great thing it is to have a few work comrades to speed the day along, or at least help to commiserate with you about how slow the day is going.
In my case, one of these gentlemen, I have known for a long time. He and my wife are both authors and columnists in our little town. They share the Saturday Op-ed page in the city paper. So, after we read her column, we read his. When it became time for me to find a new career, I was pleased to find out that I would be working with him on a daily basis.
The other of these two men is an actor, author-poet and artist who is quite well-known in our tiny burg.
We are all ‘comedians’ of sorts, and we spend a great deal of time spreading good-natured harassment between ourselves and some of our other colleagues. Yet, between these two men is a camaraderie that I could never dream to share with them. Not because of my age (I am considerably younger and more handsome than both!) but because of their own history in the Vietnam Conflict.
It turns out that, though they did not know one another at that time, they both served in the U.S. Army, about 100 meters from each other in Saigon. A coincidence? Yes. But an amazing reality that has given them both a very interesting perspective on their shared experience.
I cannot hope to ever understand the tragedy of war. That it changes those people who serve is undeniable. How it changes them, unmeasurable. It is wonderful that these two men who have such a keen albeit irascible relationship because of this common history, can talk it over, share memories and feel as though that common history links them.
We insult one another, play tricks and place team propaganda on each other’s desks. I have been the recipient of a can of unmentionable fish parts from one, and the finder of The Stuffed Mouse, from the other (I cannot explain it any better than that, or I would).  
We joke with one another relentlessly, and I know that I am the butt of a whole host of jokes I haven’t even heard yet. We all share a fondness for Amish Romance novel titles, as well, and frequently make up new ones with my name in them.
I don’t mind at all, though. It’s good to laugh, be laughed at and laugh with one’s work friends. It’s a great honor to work with these two men. I admire them and look up to them in their advanced years, because I know that they both suffered the fears and terrors of war, and that their kinship with one another because of that common background is precious to them, even though they show it with practical jokes, dare I say ‘wit’ and comedy.
It helps me to look forward to work every day.
Which reminds me; I wonder where I’ll find The Stuffed Mouse today?