A young soldier sits in a mess hall in Da Nang sipping his cup of coffee, looking out the window and running his hands across a letter. The days have long ago blended into one another.  The missions he flies have just become milestones on his way back to the real world, and to the girl who wrote the letter he holds in his hand.

He takes another sip of coffee and gently opens the envelope to find but one sheet of paper within.

"You are far away," it begins. No "Dear" or "Hi, how are you," or "I am here."  It continues, "It's too hard for me to go on loving you as I have met someone else, and he and I are going to get married as soon as he gets a job.  I know this hurts, and I wish there was some way to take the pain away, but there isn't.  I had to say it the way it was.  Please don't write me anymore, as he just would not understand."  No "goodbye."  No "Good luck."  Just "He would not understand."

The young man picks up his pen and starts to write on the tablet next to him.

"I am sorry if I loved you too much, but I loved you the only way I knew how. I am sorry if I cared too much, but I cared the only way I knew how. I wish you the best in the life you have chosen to lead and hope it is always filled with happiness."

He picks up his tray and takes a final sip of his coffee, then throws away his garbage and the note he wrote.

Forty years later an old man stands looking down at a fresh grave in a cemetery in a small town and shakes his head.

He has just returned from another place far away - a dusty, sandy place.  His retirement papers are in his pocket, his duffle bag sits at his side.

Her name is etched on the fresh tombstone.  He received word she had died while he was on his way home.

"I am sorry I didn't love you enough, but I loved you the only way I knew how.

I am sorry I didn't care enough, but I cared the only way I knew how. 

I wished you a happy life and instead you got him.

I only wish I had known, that I could have done something.

But I was busy doing what I did best - fighting wars and avoiding love."

He wiped the tears from his eyes, picked up his duffle bag and walked off.

The next plane is due to leave at 5.