I've lived this way my entire life.
Sure there's many men who don't live by this code of conduct.
That doesn't mean I have to lower my value does it?
Because there's an even larger pool of men who admires me for it and would prefer to befriend me.
That's how I get to choose who becomes my friends.
Loyalty brings about plenty of privileges. I could fly from Asia to Europe or from Indonesia to Malaysia today and there's going to be people who will gladly fetch me at the airport or put me up at their house.
Bro, you speak wise words. Maturity and masculinity at its core.
Dog eats dog, and then a wolf comes along and turns those both dogs into tasty meals. I have to say, its important to define yourself who you want to be and go work on being that guy. If you can't be friends, atleast you will earn their respect by being the proper type of guy.
It's a leadership thing being the mature guy. The pragmatic guy. Lots of self development and going into uncharted territory to be who you wish to be. Also it depends on how you want to sleep at night and how (a)moral you are. It's all about how integrity is important to you. Now I'm not saying go trust everyone but rather don't do something unpleasant if you can, because as one famous soldier said, you need to make some decisions because once you start firing, that bullet exiting your rifle can never be put back, and would you be willing to accept the responsibility behind bullet? Same thing with the decisions you decide to make. Another similar quote is "Don't spit the well you drink your water from".
Obviously there's more, how to find friends, and how to judge that they are a good fit but the main issue is guys think naively that once they make guy friends, they are their for life and they will never go after their girls, wives, mothers or sisters. No no that's not how the world works, treat every guy as a loaded gun that has a round in the chamber that you should treat carefully, and by carefully, I mean responsibly. Because if you start pointing that gun at people, and it's loaded, well you are going to have a bad day. On the other hand, a Man must be able to live in solitude and not count on anyone but himself.
Would have OP left his so called "girlfriend" alone in the bar, if there was no friend in that bar? Again its a hypothetical situation, but if you leave a guy or a girl, a friend or a wife, all alone, is that even considered normal? Again it could be said that this is a rhetorical question and theres so much to talk about on how should a guy behave, but I'll leave it at that. Indeed, would you leave a child at a bar or at a park all alone telling them go play, I'll see you tomorrow. Do you ask the local neighbor to look after your children, or a stranger to look after your bags at an airport. Probably not, so the first major error was why did he leave her? Because he got tired, or because he tried to not give a damn, but he did, by calling his friend and asking for an update. So does this mean, they weren't exclusive after all because if they were, a woman would go after her man, and a man would not leave his woman behind. 2+2=4 right not 5? Therefore they weren't exclusive and he expected her to be trustful when they probably didn't have the talk...