Was your Dad former Military? Or have a problem w/ alcohol? A The Dad of a good friend of mine was, and often beat my friend. My Dad came from a very poor family where both his Dad and later, Step Dad, were very abusive drunks. Thankfully my Dad never passed that on to me, but he was what they now would call, emotionally absent. Not all Dads from our era, were violent. My Moms brother and his son were quite close and I was quite jealous of their relationship.