SOCNET - The Special Operations Community Network

The world, and especially SOCNET, lost a great man today, my friend, Andy Potts aka SOTB.

I don't remember my first interaction with Andy. SOCNET search has too many hits with him calling me on something, or agreeing with something, for me to get back farther than 2012.

I have been fortunate in my life to have existed in the shadows of some very great men. I've mentioned some of them in threads here and there but most of the shadows I spent in with Andy have been very shadowy - emails and PMs that only he and I would ever see, texts time to time, and, most recently, on FB when I opened up my messages one day to read a friend request: "Hey homo, it's me --Andy/SOTB."

Andy stood up for me more than once. Not because he felt that I needed standing up for, and he would make that abundantly clear, but because he felt I was right and knew that while people can stand alone on their own merits, sometimes it makes a big difference when someone else stands with them. And that's something that will forever be etched in my brain: Andy didn't care about popularity contests and wouldn't hesitate to stand up for someone he thought was right, even if everyone else thought they were wrong, or were simply nodding along silently. Andy would let you, and everyone else, know he was standing beside you. Andy also wouldn't hesitate to tell someone they were wrong, either, and that happened more than once for certain.

Andy did some things for me, too, that need not be mentioned in public, but some reading this will be well aware of, and he took some shit for it, too. In fact one very major thing he did took two tries. He didn't give up after the first, retreated a bit, built up his case, and went at it again - because that's the kind of man that he was.

I never went to war with Andy. I never saved his six, and he never saved mine, at least from getting dead. But he metaphorically waved me off very hot DZs at times, not because he felt I was wrong, but because I needed to do what he did: back off for a moment, regroup, and come at it from another angle. And, yes, sometimes because I was wrong and wouldn't survive the landing.

I only met Andy in person a couple times and I still never saw him finish an entire beer. Lots of food though, he could put away some food.

In recent months Andy was going through some things which need not be public, either. In his way, in this way in fact ("it isn't required you worry or offer or anything -- it is what it is. But whatever.") he was letting me, and I am certain, others, know and also in no certain terms telling us he would be ok in the end. The last thing Andy wanted anyone else to do was burden themselves with something he was going through.

There are no doubt people who have been on this board who didn't care for Andy. I know there are people who don't care for me. What Andy taught me, and others, is to not worry about those people, at all, in the least bit, but to be true to yourself, and if people didn't like it: fuck them.

I was pretty excited recently because Andy had been talking about visiting Montana and meeting my wife. He was very excited to meet my wife, whether to see what kind of person who would put up with me....nah, because he was my friend and he knew I was finally happy and I think he wanted to meet the person who could make me happy.

I am sad that Andy didn't get to visit me in Montana and meet my wife.

I am sad that I didn't get to visit Andy on his home turf, either, but it wasn't for lack of him asking. Before I met my wife Andy asked me to Christmas a number of times, because he knew I spent them alone. It never worked out, mostly because at times I wanted to spend Christmas alone, and he understood that and wouldn't push, but he'd reach out regardless, almost every year, knowing that I'd come up with some kind of excuse not to come.

Andy wouldn't be mad at me for being sad because he's gone. He'll be mad if I, and others, dwell on it. So I won't. I'm going to pack some things and take a trip to a place I was going to take him when he visited, and I'll drink half a beer. Next time I watch some girl-on-girl porn I'll probably think of him, which he'd think was remarkably GAY but whatever. There are going to be lots of things that happen for lots of us that will cause us to pause and think of Andy.

I will miss my friend, but I won't mourn my friend, and trust me, brother, if I can figure out how to do this, [URL="http://socnet.com/showthread.php?t=105331"]I'll get our business off the ground:[/URL]

One thing Andy may have been wrong about is the afterlife. I was burning some old lumber this morning when I got the word. I started musing about him and sent a photo of my wood stove to another brother mentioning how I was making the fire hotter to guide him on his way, [B]at the very moment I posted that picture[/B] the glass shattered on the stove door - his way of letting me know, I'm sure, to hurry up and commiserate and then get on with my life. So, Andy, if you were wrong about the afterlife, and there is one, I hope it's full of pinky-tested chicks and good food.

Until we meet again. [I]Semper Fi[/I], RIP and Fuck Cancer.

Your pal, KidA