Level 3: Brothers
(NB: Adapted from Men’s Health, May 2009 issue. Article originally pertaining to different levels of relationship with your boss, but, with minor edits/word omission, this passage can relate universally to all bromances.)
Over the years, two individuals may grow very close in the forge of conflict, daily labor, and mutual self-interest, sharing the same goals, dreams, allies, and enemies. This is the happiest — and most enduring — form of friendship. A true communication develops, a language of looks and grunts, a shared understanding based on that rarest commodity, trust.
Here is where the beating heart resides. You sense that you belong to something deeper than just the enterprise.
This, by the way, is not to be confused with Level 3a, or fellow residents of the gulag, which is a kinship between two people forced to endure the hardship of prison life because they both work at the same lousy place and there’s nothing either of them can do about it.
No, true brotherhood is special. It’s a feeling of family, a sense that whatever happens in the future, you’ll both be better soldiers and human beings. And make no mistake, something will happen. Organizations may look like static things, but they most certainly are not. Sooner or later one of the other Brother falls in action or is transferred to another front.
If you’re trustworthy, work hard, and invest in the people around you — both upward and down — you will be granted these friendships. Treat them well.
