My only brother died a few hours ago. We were born of an only child Father and bore only wonderful daughters.
My brother served 25 years in USAF (1970-95), my older sister (1969-77) and I (1972-76). Our Mother at one time had her 4 children on 4 different Countries and 3 Continents... Thailand, Phillipine Islands, Germany and USA.
Brother served his last 15 years of service as a programmer of surveilence equipment on aircraft. His specialty was the AWACS on C-130's he was deployed TDY to Saudi Arabia twice and all over Europe (except Berlin, my home from 1974-76). He was not a hero (E-7 final rank) but he did what his Country asked him to do, of his 25 years only 8 of them were served in America. After USAF he became a Penticostal Minister and was devoted to death. From 1970-2010 I was next to him only 6 or 7 times but I stood as his best man at Grissom AFB in 1985. The last 10 years we were closer in contact but were never physically closer than North Carolina and Nebraska and never stood beside each other much more than 1970-2010. We were different people, I lived construction but he could not drive a nail but I loved him. As Rush Limbaugh said to his brother David, "I will miss you, big time."