bangor maine welcoming the troops home
#1
11-19-2003, 06:38 PM
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bangor maine welcoming the troops home
was speaking to a co-worker in another office today and i asked him if his son was rotated out of his service yet from the fighting in iraq.
we speak every week or so, and i sympathized with his 'fathers concern' over his boy serving america abroad. we spoke before of our ideas on what we were doing there, and i appreciated his points of view, especially since he had much more of an immediate concern there than many people.
today he told me his son was back home in florida, and heres the nice part.
he told me that their flight back had a stop over in bangor maine to refuel the plane. his son told him there were 50 or so folks from the service on their plane, and many of them got off to stretch their legs out while the work was being done.
when his son was deboarding, he and the others saw a group of people waving, with flags in their hands. he said his kids first thought was 'who's on this plane that these people are here for?' they thought there was a politican or someone on the flight that these folks came to see. it turned out they were there to welcome the troops back to the states, and many of them offered them the use of their cel-phones so they could call home and say 'they were back'. his son was suprised, flattered, and even prouder to be home.
i think that no matter what peoples views are on whether we did the right thing or not, bottom line is, we should all support the folks doing the dirty work.
two thumbs up for the people up there that went to 'show some love' for the troops they didnt even know. his father told me it really meant alot to the them and it was totally unexpected.
we speak every week or so, and i sympathized with his 'fathers concern' over his boy serving america abroad. we spoke before of our ideas on what we were doing there, and i appreciated his points of view, especially since he had much more of an immediate concern there than many people.
today he told me his son was back home in florida, and heres the nice part.
he told me that their flight back had a stop over in bangor maine to refuel the plane. his son told him there were 50 or so folks from the service on their plane, and many of them got off to stretch their legs out while the work was being done.
when his son was deboarding, he and the others saw a group of people waving, with flags in their hands. he said his kids first thought was 'who's on this plane that these people are here for?' they thought there was a politican or someone on the flight that these folks came to see. it turned out they were there to welcome the troops back to the states, and many of them offered them the use of their cel-phones so they could call home and say 'they were back'. his son was suprised, flattered, and even prouder to be home.
i think that no matter what peoples views are on whether we did the right thing or not, bottom line is, we should all support the folks doing the dirty work.
two thumbs up for the people up there that went to 'show some love' for the troops they didnt even know. his father told me it really meant alot to the them and it was totally unexpected.
Last edited by billycouldride; 11-19-2003 at 06:40 PM.
#2
11-19-2003, 08:17 PM
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That's great! It really helps the spirit of the troops.
I deployed to Desert Shield/Storm with no notice, recalled at 9:00pm, sent home at 7:00 am and told to return at 2:00 pm. This was RIGHT after Iraq invaded Kuwait. My group was gone 7 1/2 months. On the flight home they told us that we were going to have to stop at Westover, an Air Force reserve base in Mass for customs but the pilot was trying to bypass it if he could. Well, that didn't happen and we had to stop.
Customs came on and did their thing, NOTHING. We were getting PO'd. Then a few Chaplains came on and said that there was a group of people that wanted to meet us and share some pizza. We wanted no part of it - our families were waiting at home. We grumbled the whole way off the plane and on the bus ride to the hangar.
We stepped off the bus and onto a red carpet that looped throughout this massive hangar packed with people in bleachers waving the American flag and playing the National Anthem. ALOT of PEOPLE! One of the most awesome and memorable events in my life!!! Women coming up and giving you big hugs, which after 7 1/2 months felt unbelievably great!
They had soda, beer, pizza, McD's, ballhats, everything. Those people were great. And after a few hours when all the excitement wore down, I heard over the loudspeaker that the next plane would be in at 3:00 am in the morning and lots of those people saying they'll be back.
I would just like to throw another big thanks to those great people, it really made us feel good.
I deployed to Desert Shield/Storm with no notice, recalled at 9:00pm, sent home at 7:00 am and told to return at 2:00 pm. This was RIGHT after Iraq invaded Kuwait. My group was gone 7 1/2 months. On the flight home they told us that we were going to have to stop at Westover, an Air Force reserve base in Mass for customs but the pilot was trying to bypass it if he could. Well, that didn't happen and we had to stop.
Customs came on and did their thing, NOTHING. We were getting PO'd. Then a few Chaplains came on and said that there was a group of people that wanted to meet us and share some pizza. We wanted no part of it - our families were waiting at home. We grumbled the whole way off the plane and on the bus ride to the hangar.
We stepped off the bus and onto a red carpet that looped throughout this massive hangar packed with people in bleachers waving the American flag and playing the National Anthem. ALOT of PEOPLE! One of the most awesome and memorable events in my life!!! Women coming up and giving you big hugs, which after 7 1/2 months felt unbelievably great!
They had soda, beer, pizza, McD's, ballhats, everything. Those people were great. And after a few hours when all the excitement wore down, I heard over the loudspeaker that the next plane would be in at 3:00 am in the morning and lots of those people saying they'll be back.
I would just like to throw another big thanks to those great people, it really made us feel good.