Cold....on a long winding road.

It's that cold?
Vacation time was coming to an end.
I spent the remainder of the time going down to DC to see the museums and such. I took my brother who was 8 at the time. We looked like father and son due to our age differences.
I did not mind. I knew I was heading back to the Army. Continue my tour of service.
Least I could do was spend time with my little brother....even if he cramped my dating style.
I could still see her face after I said her name when I would lay on my bed at night.
I remembered how we talked about a future together.
I remembered the blood thrown on me.
What made it worse was not the fact I had been in Viet Nam killing folks so probably deserved it but the fact she did not know. No one knew.
It was the fact that I was targeted because I was a soldier.
I saw it every day on the news.
Hatred.
I was glad when it was time to go back to Alaska.
At least there I was wanted. I was among friends. It was like a drug that once you take it you can never get enough of it.
My dad took me to the airport. My brother sat in back choking back his tears. Trying to be a brave 8 year old.
My dad walked me all the way to the boarding area.....he was not going to let anything like that happen again. I could see that in his eyes.
The flight was uneventful. A reverse of the trip home sans the mile high club.
I arrived in Fairbanks.
It was now late December.....it was 42 below. 85 degrees at Daytona Beach to this.
Same deal. Caught the truck the next day and back on base.
First assignment.
Wear this helmet for tankers and ride around with your head out the hatch. Must maintain 15 miles per hour for two hours. Then check for frostbite. The hell with the frostbite my cold weather mask was frozen to my face along with the helmet. Took twenty minutes to thaw before I could remove it.
I learned many things about deep cold....do you know if cold enough your pee can freeze before it hits the ground? We actually proved that. Why? Just because.
So I began my two year tour of duty in Alaska. Before the pipeline. Before the dreams got too bad. I began my journey to find myself. The one I had lost in those jungles and battlefields of Southeast Asia and an airport in Baltimore.
I was to trudge a long road.
But like our high school graduation song said....The long and winding road will lead me back.
To my self.