“Take the Desk Job, Wesley”

A young man with the ability to jump back in time gets a second chance to save his best friend's life

- BY Mitch Albom

WESLEY, NO SURPRISE, excelled at basic training and was already on an officer track three months into his stay. In early 1975, he came home for a weekend. He looked so much older. His hair was shaved, and his body was as thickly muscled as a gymnast. We went for some Italian panzerottis, and he told me a story about his drill instructor.

“They're not supposed to hit the new guys, right? But this DI, he’s a mean son of a gun. He didn’t like the way one private was looking at him so he told him to stand up straight—‘Like this!’ he goes—and then he bangs him in the face with the butt of his rifle! And he got away with it!”

Wesley shook his head. “These military guys are crazy.”

He told me he was up for two positions, one on a ship and one at a training center, which sounded kind of boring.

“More fun to be on a ship,” I said.

“Yeah,” Wesley said. Then he looked at me and said, “None of it is really fun, you know?”