THREADS OF BROTHERHOOD: A VETERAN’S REUNION

Insights into Vietnam Uncensored

They gathered in the backyard facing the pool. The kids splashed and played in the water as he checked the burgers, hot dogs, and sweet corn on the grill.

His Army buddies sat around gabbing and joking, sipping on bottles of cold beer from the tub of ice. The wives and girlfriends flittered in and out of the back entrance, talking and laughing, arranging the picnic table with homemade salads, condiments, and fried potato wedges.

The scars from when they made up the Special Ops team in Vietnam appeared on hands, faces, and legs. They never talked shop in front of the kids on the rare occasions they all came together.

Later in the evening, when the children were asleep, they would gather in the living room, the women nestled into their fellas as brothers shared the more amusing stories that could have ended tragically had it not been for the positive effects of making a wrong decision, a stupid mistake by plotting the wrong coordinates, or the occasions they forced their will on helicopter pilots, doctors, and obstinate orderlies.

The brothers had not been soldiers for a long time. Instead, they returned to becoming sons, siblings, husbands, fathers, and friends. It continually amazed them that they had survived Nam and could meet this way. But they never forgot who they once were and what they accomplished.

Not one…