A lot of the specifics are lost on him, but God if this isn't a familiar tune. He's met plenty of kids who signed up to the army thinking they'd be heroes and wind up on his table as corpses. More than one who was running from home.

"My dad's pretty great too. I had to leave him to go study to become a doctor- when I was younger I was too excited by all of it to write, but... I ended up missing him a lot, y'know. You're right, we're luckier than most."

He's still got the message from the bottle in the breast pocket of his vest.

"I'm sure your dad is still proud of you. I mean, that's what you do when you're young. You make mistakes, break some hearts, and you learn better for next time."