When you joined the military, were you a "loner"?

Hmmm. Didn't start out that way but wound up being a loner for a bit. I hit my first tin can out of A school and after the perfunctory 30 days in the scullery where everyone ignored you, I turned to. There were only two of us qualified for Electronic Warfare so we stood port/starboard and were alone. It got pretty intense off 'Nam and we couldn't be distracted. The crew knew it and left us alone. Then we had to PM our gear which was S/TS and we were the only ones allowed in those spaces. Then since nobody knew what you really did, they'd ignore you. Our division chief was pretty much our only pipeline. I didn't have time to strike up relationships as we died in our racks briefly twice a day. Funny thing, when we returned to home port, some of the crew asked if I just reported aboard. That all unraveled the day I splashed a Styx off the starboard quarter and became everyone's best friend. Had the golden voice on the course change to the bridge and the golden hand on the chaff launch button that day. My reward was less sleep as the Skipper insisted I sit the EW watch on close shoots regardless of rotation. Ugh!

Yes, Ma'am- took along time to bond- especially since I enlisted as an E3, and had a ton of prior SVN folks with me who were now E2/E3, from being shake and bake E5/E6.

Yes I was, and for that matter still prefer my own company a lot of the time. There were times during my service when taking a mental hygiene break was just not an option. That said, the most important thing I learned in the military was how to get along with people I did not particularly care for for a greater organizational good.