Bob hang in there buddy. A look back for prior threads on such matters will I believe show who we are. Those things hurt and for many people they just can't talk /post about them.

My brother just retired from service. At age 56 he was just behind the tip of the spear in Iraq. He saw some horrible things but won't say much. Then at 59 he volunteered (with his unit - he could not bring himself to bug out on them even though he was entitled to) to go to Afghanistan doing Intel work. Its not fun at that age to be at 9000' in 0 degree temps dodging mortars and ied's. My father was a navel aviator in WWII flying torpedo bombers. He never talked about that - to hard even 50 years later. I found out why later. Often on an attack run they had 80% casualties. Watch the movie Midway and see what happens to the torpedo bombers.

The most telling comment I ever heard about the veterans who did not come home was by an English infantryman interviewed on the 50th Anv. of D-Day while visiting the graves of his comrades in Normandy cemetery . Still visibly shaken by the events 50 years before he managed to say to us ,when ask what he would tell people , " Just remember that they willingly gave up all of their tomorrows so you could live free today !". A strong reminder of their sacrifice.

With respect to the tornado devastation other than quietly helping however we can there is not mush we can do. Most of us have been through tornados or hurricanes or both and feel for those stricken. Our personal experience reveals that words are empty but our actions can help.. The survivors will struggle always moving forward and those that passed are in a place of joy and without pain. Stay strong with the knowledge that there will be a better day.

Bob there are only 2 groups here - those that are close friends (like Sunil described) and those that are going to be close friends. There are no outsiders - all are welcome to inclusion. I will say that this is the most caring group of people you will ever encounter outside of your blood relatives. Grace and peace friend.