I was sipping my first beer at a little bar within walking distance of my office, waiting for Jeff. We met in Army basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, in January 1971, and became close friends. Since our names started with the same letter, Stevens for me, and Simmons for Jeff, we ended up in the same 15 man squad, and bunk mates. We found we shared a lot of the same history even though he grew up in California and I grew up in Maine. We were both brought up to work until the work was done, and it didn’t matter if it was a 15 minute chore…