Although I was exposed to the JW's as a child as the only religion I knew, I was not a JW until I got out of the Navy as a conscientious objector. So I was typical "worldly" when I hit 18 out of high school and I got to see the world before personal catastrophy involving heavy drinking made me turn to the lies that I thought were "the truth." So just over 30 years ago, I got the special privilege of serving as the original crew of a brand new ship with a crew slightly over 200. I served 5 years on the "USS Worldly" and then left to become a JW.
When you are the first crew, you learn together how to use that ship, how to run things smoothly. We went to ports all over the world together and were a real family. Everybody in the enlisted ranks knew everybody else. We may not know your wife's name, but we knew if you had one and how many kids you had, or whether you had any college. Most of us were very young and had no wife, no kids, no college. We worked hard together and drank hard together.
Because my time on the "USS Worldly" involved heavy drinking and because the military and my past was totally incompatible with being a Jehovah's Witness, I broke all ties with my shipmates when I left. They tend to give you awards and plaques and such, and I thought such things were not good to have and I threw them all away. I had nothing but memories and figured I would never miss any of my history in the Navy.
Well, a few years ago- with me now a faded JW- one of my closest buddies from those days managed to find me and stayed in touch and told me the ship was to be decommissioned in 2014. The latest and greatest technology of the 20th century was getting obsolete in the 21st century and these ships had to moth-balled. I said a few years ago, "Well, let's go to the ceremony."
So we just recently did so.
There were about 300 in attendance- peopple who served throughout the years on the "USS Worldly" and many with their families. About 30 members of the original crew showed up, which is a considerably high number. And there were a handful more who, although not original crew, reported onboard during those 5 years I was there.
People were saying that what they had done all these years. Many stayed in the Navy or the Reserves. (That's the type who would typically show up at a decommissioning.) Some did their tour of duty and got out of the Navy. Quite a few kept in touch with each other to slight degrees. Virtually all said that I just dropped off the face of the earth as far as they remembered. Most of these guys left the ship slightly before me and did not know that I got out to become a JW, and to be honest- why would they remember what goofy religion I had found? Some did remember my drinking problem and how I got in so much trouble over it and most vaguely remember hearing how I left the ship to get help.
Anyway, the point of this thread. It was totally awesome to reconnect with people and to be myself. WTS teaches that school reunions are a bad idea, and I am sure that military reunions would be thought of as just as bad, were I an active JW asking the elders if I should go. But to step back into the past and be the person I was before I was a JW was really satisfying.
While most here won't ever have such a great position in life to do as I did here, many "converts" have friends and many many "born-in-ones" have worldly family and associates. I have to highly recommend reaching back into your past to trigger thoughts of a time when you weren't a JW, or to reach out to non-JW family to form memories now that you can use in your future to get through some rough times.
Oh, and this- some people still had a chip on their shoulder about things that were considered injustices back then. Even though their position may be valid and justified, there was no benefit to holding on to that chip. If time can heal your wound, try to get past grudges and move on with your life.