My brother and I didn't speak to each other during our four years of high school. Maybe being fourteen months apart in age had something to do with it and the fact that my father was harder on him than on me.
Nevertheless, after high school we went our separate ways, Tom to Texas A&M and me to SUNY Cortland.
Tom flunked out and enlisted in the Army and served two years in Vietnam - first in infantry (The Big Red 1) and on his second tour he flew supply missions in a Chinook helicopter.
On my twenty-first birthday he sent me a letter apologizing for our lack of communication and we've been good friends since. In fact we live next door to each other now and help each other out in our twilight years.
Tom often receives invitations to speak about his Vietnam experiences and has developed a nice presentation with visual aids, humor and emotion.
Here is a video of one of his lectures that I like to share on Veterans Day.
Tom McMillen's Vietnam Adventures