My Dad's Cousin

My dad often speaks of his cousin. I guess it's his don't do drugs speech. The one who was a soldier in Vietnam. Dad said he was one of a group of men who’s pictures made historical, headline news. The photographs were of the soldiers smoking weed out of the barrel of a gun. My dad’s cousin was demoted back down to private for it. He’d stayed longer than a draftee was required. He was doing well as a soldier till those photos hit the news.
He didn’t mind killing people. Before he’d been sent over he and his brother were always fighters. They spent high school hanging with low-riders, taking downers, and picking fights. Violence didn’t bother him. He left Vietnam because of the dismemberment.
His fellow soldiers would dismember the bodies of the enemy. They’d remove the heads as trophies and wear the ears as medals. My dad’s cousin didn’t like that. Once while posing for a photo, a fellow soldier came up behind him with a head in each hand and held them above my dad’s cousin’s shoulders as the photo took. That’s when he decided to leave.
It seems they were all taking the heavy drugs sold to them by the natives. He told my dad a story about it. A young boy came up to him and the platoon to make money off of a sticky, red resin he presented to them on a plate. The soldiers smoked the opium and were barely able to crawl back to their tents. They were sure they’d been set up. The kid must have been in league with some Vietcong. They’d come in while they couldn’t move and massacre them all in front of each other. They simply wouldn’t be able to resist them.
They all woke up alive the next day. The kid was just making money. When my dad’s cousin came home he didn’t show for his welcome back party with family; my father included. His cousin had gone off with friends from the airport to go shoot up somewhere. He didn’t go home that night.
My dad’s cousin died many years later. My dad’s cousin died dirty. My dad’s cousin died a dirty junkie’s death. He was a decorated warrior. As a soldier, he’d almost made a career and a life for himself. He became a part of media history. He didn’t want these things. He only wanted the red resin. His brother now preaches repentance and reform to prisoners.