Dear Little Brother
If you'd lived through Viet Nam, who would you be now? For one thing, you'd 69 years old, still six years younger than me. I still giggle when I remember how , as a child, you really believed you could catch up with me, age wise, and end up being my older brother. :) But you didn't make it past 21.
I got a phone call from Mom. She was in tears because you had decided to enlist, against her wishes, and wanted me to come home and talk some sense into you. I tried. I tried very hard, and failed. You'd been dreaming about becoming a soldier your whole life. All you wanted was a chance to defend your beloved country. You could not/would not hear anything we said about the war over there: serving country was your North Star, nothing was going to change that.