Back in khaki

What is a comrade?
What is a friend, but with a more complicated relationship?
More to you than your one night stand, but less than your cat.

Is that a comrade, kinda, close?

What does a soldier care about the person she fights next to?

It would depend on the historical context of the war in question.

A person with whom you find it completely normal to go camping,                                        cook,                                        sing,                                        "chill"                                        and also not communicate for years only to knock on their doors drunk in retribution for hours of thoughts wasted

Is not my comrade.

I would use Mr. or Ms. if I had anything to talk about with such a person. I would watch the false symbolism strike such a person with fear. Or not, if the former comrade possibly has anything else to think about.

Where did the symbolism come from? Why do I feel like most Americans don't regularly use the word "comrade"? How did this unproven assertion become a symbol of the divide between lefts and non-lefts?

I hesitate to use it around strangers like I hesitate to use large words around a 5th grader, forgetful of how much someone of that age should know.

My mistake of expecting people to be always suspicious of my politics has cost me the use of a good word.