Living along the Western Slope between Grand Junction etc there are quite a few vets living around here and I always make the effort to talk with them if they want to talk but one vet in particular left me with a lasting impression. He was a Vietnam vet who served around the same time my dad did. I saw he had a small vet patch on his jacket so I said hello and asked him about the patch. He was a little reluctant till I mentioned my dad and his time in country.
He opened up some and we talked for a few minutes. He was near the DMZ and I honestly can't remember where exactly. I had mentioned about how he felt for many years he felt he should have stayed(The base my father was stationed at was overrun 6 months after he left and a lot of his friends were killed)
The vet then told me he understood exactly what my father felt and raised his right arm showing me a tattoo of a M16 facing downwards into the dirt with his unit and the guys he knew in his unit that died overseas while he was there.
We spoke for another minute or two and he went on but it left me with a lasting impression. It really is a brotherhood