AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, which got us thinking about one of our favorite entries in NPR’s College Podcast Challenge. It was a love letter of sorts from a big sister. When her little sister Jewel shipped off to the U.S. Army a couple years ago, Trinity Chase Hunt tried to keep in touch. Back then, Trinity was a senior at the University of Delaware, and she kept calling and writing her sister. And then she made a podcast about it. It’s called “Dear Little Sister.”

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “DEAR LITTLE SISTER”)

TRINITY CHASE HUNT: It is no small feat to watch from afar as your 18-year-old sister goes through one of the most difficult challenges that anyone could ever experience. Jewel has always been independent, but joining the Army was truly something that she had to go through all on her own. My mom, my youngest sister Nadia (ph) and I had to sit by and do nothing while Jewel transformed from an everyday civilian into a United States soldier. Throughout it all, I wrote Jewel letters to keep her updated on my life and let her know how I was feeling.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CHASE HUNT: (Reading) Dear Little Sister – Sundays are like torture. I spend the entire day hoping that you’ll call. Once 3 p.m. rolls around, my heart starts racing and I can’t focus on anything else. Mommy has been reading articles that say sometimes trainees get in trouble and won’t be allowed to call home. It’s honestly starting to get to me. I think someone needs to take her phone away because she’s just been Googling and researching everything.

Sometimes she would call and she would be crying. I didn’t know how to comfort her. She told us before she left that she never wanted to hear that we missed her because she thought that it would distract her or make her sad. And so instead, she just wanted us to give her distraction from the military life.

Cardi B and Megan have a new song.

JEWEL: Cardi B and who?

CHASE HUNT: Megan Thee Stallion have a new song.

JEWEL: Are you serious?

CHASE HUNT: Here, wait. Let me play you a snippet.

It was different, though. Sometimes we would make a joke and Jewel wouldn’t catch on, or she wouldn’t care about things she used to care about. It was like she was stuck in soldier mode and we couldn’t relate to each other like we used to. Sometimes our phone calls would be disconnected in the middle of a story.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Like, I can’t do this again.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah.

CHASE HUNT: OK.

JEWEL: The phone’s breaking up, Mom.

CHASE HUNT: Hello?

JEWEL: Hello?

CHASE HUNT: Can you hear us?

Sometimes the phone calls would be interrupted by the entrance of a drill sergeant.

JEWEL: OK, I got to go.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Love you. Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Love you, Jewel.

CHASE HUNT: Love you. Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I love you so much.

CHASE HUNT: (Reading) Dear Little Sister – I’ve never been completely into politics. I care, and I vote, but it’s never been in the forefront of my mind. It even recently occurred to me that when I vote in the next presidential election, I’m voting for my sister’s boss. It’s weird and strange because, before Jewel enlisted in the Army, I didn’t really consider the fact that when they talk about the U.S. military as one whole group, as a union, as a force, there are individuals that make up that force. And there are individual families that are affected by the choices that our government and our politicians make.

So all of the letters and all of the phone calls led up to Jewel’s graduation from Army basic training. My family flew all the way to Oklahoma to see our new soldier.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CHASE HUNT: I remember seeing all of the graduates come marching out and searching their faces for my sister’s. They all looked the same. They had the same expression, the same posture. They moved as one. At one point, I briefly glanced at a familiar face. She looked so different, I almost didn’t recognize her. But that was Jewel, and she was a soldier. My youngest sister was the first one to cry as my whole family gathered and embraced Jewel. All around us, soldiers who were so stoic minutes ago were all clinging onto their families, crying and rejoicing. I saw grown men break down as their children ran up to them. I saw a veteran father cry with pride when he saw his daughter in her soldier’s uniform.

This is who we are sending to war. This is who is fighting for us. So dear little sister – when you listen to this, proud is an understatement. You’ve inspired everyone who knows you. You went through something distinct and indescribable. I know I couldn’t have done it. But I thank you. And I thank your peers. And I love you so much.

CHANG: That story was from NPR’s College Podcast Challenge.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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