redelk
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Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted November 07, 2003 01:20 PM
 Edited By: redelk on 7 Nov 2003 14:52
OT - True event about our "America"
A friend e-mailed this to me.
Dear Friends and Family,
I hope that you will spare me a few minutes of your time to tell you about something that I saw on Monday, October 27. I had been attending a conference in Annapolis and was coming home on Sunday. As you may recall, Los Angeles International Airport was closed on Sunday, October 26, because of the fires that affected air traffic control. Accordingly, my flight, and many others, were canceled and I wound up spending a night in Baltimore.
My story begins the next day. When I went to check in at the United counter Monday morning I saw a lot of soldiers home from Iraq. Most were very young and all had on their desert camouflage uniforms. This was as change from earlier, when they had to buy civilian clothes in Kuwait to fly home. It was a visible reminder that we are in a war. It probably was pretty close to what train terminals were like in World War II.
Many people were stopping the troops to talk to them, asking them questions in the Starbucks line or just saying "Welcome Home." In addition to all the flights that had been canceled on Sunday, the weather was terrible in Baltimore and the flights were backed up. So, there were a lot of unhappy people in the terminal trying to get home, but nobody that I saw gave the soldiers a bad time.
By the afternoon, one plane to Denver had been delayed several hours. United personnel kept asking for volunteers to give up their seats and take another flight. They weren't getting many takers. Finally, a United spokeswoman got on the PA and said this, "Folks... As you can see, there are a lot of soldiers in the waiting area. They only have 14 days of leave and we're trying to get them where they need to go without spending any more time in an airport then they have to. We sold them all tickets, knowing we would oversell the flight. If we can, we want to get them all on this flight. We want all the soldiers to know that we respect what you're doing, we are here for you and we love you."
At that, the entire terminal of cranky, tired, travel-weary people, a cross-section of America, broke into sustained and heartfelt applause. The soldiers looked surprised and very modest. Most of them just looked at their boots. Many of us were wiping away tears.
And, yes, people lined up to take the later flight and all the soldiers went to Denver on that flight. That little moment made me proud to be an American, and also told me why we will win this war. If you want to send my little story on to your friends and family, feel free. This is not some urban legend. I was there, I was part of it, I saw it happen.
Will Ross
Administrative Judge
United States Department of Defense
Being one who questions the "claimed sources" of all such "patrotic posts" and forwarded e-mails... I checked it out.
From snopes.com
Origins: We went straight to the putative source for this item and contacted Will Ross, who is now an administrative judge with the Defense Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals in Los Angeles. He verified for us that he is indeed the author of this piece, and that his write-up reflects events he witnessed on 27 October 2003 at Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). Mr. Ross' experience was also reported in an article issued by the American Forces Press Service. (We likewise heard from several readers who were at BWI that same day and confirmed the account quoted above.)
Since the Defense Department began granting two-week leaves to U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq in September 2003, thousands of servicemen have been flown back to the United States through BWI (as well as Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta airports), catching connecting flights on commercial airlines the rest of the way home at their own expense (because Congress had not yet provided funding for this purpose).
In response to this situation, Representative Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland came up with idea of Operation Hero Miles, a plan under which Americans can donate unused frequent flyer miles to the Department of Defense to help U.S. troops travel home.
God Bless all those serving this great nation
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
   
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vozizm
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Got Nothing Witty To Say
Posts: 4417
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posted November 07, 2003 01:46 PM
quote:
That little moment made me proud to be an American,
God Bless all those serving this great nation
GREAT READ!!!
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted November 07, 2003 02:52 PM
Thanks.... I added that!
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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VincentHill
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Posts: 6520
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posted November 07, 2003 04:27 PM
When the chips are really down, The BS Stops, Most of the internal hate we have in this country against each other takes a Back seat! Just like family, we can fight among ourselves, but do not let anyone else step in because the Klan member will be helping the Black Panther to Kick his A-s and then! Go back to business as USUAL! 
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Made History @ Daytona and still one fast old man!!
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oldkawboy
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Posts: 2125
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posted November 08, 2003 04:38 AM
Thanks for sharing that with us Red, it was good to read.
Man I wish this mess would hurry up and get straightened out, I HATE reading everyday of the number of U.S. soldiers dying.
My thoughts, prayers and respect go out for all of them.
Dan
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Hells Dark Lord
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living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted November 08, 2003 06:25 AM
just heard on the news that 35 american soldiers have died in the past 8 days in Iraq....this makes me sick ! ! ! ! We are losing more soldiers now than during the initial invasion....The soldiers I went there with have been saying all along, and anyone that has ever seen combat can attest to, it is one thing to take a country, it is completely different to occupy a country.....We need to get our troops our of there. NOW! ! ! We are going to continue to lose this countries sons and daughters until we do. Yes it is going to hurt the country of Iraq, yes it is going to make it difficult to establish a new working government there. We all know these things, and our politicians did as well when they sent us in there, what they didnt count on was the way the people of Irq were going to fight us. They are using unconventional tactics that we are NOT trained to defend against. We (3rd Infantry Division) rewrote many tactics and doctrines in our invasion of the country, becasue the old ones didnt work. In the Army we have a saying, "train as you fight", but our soldiers cant do that.
I have spouted here long enough, I am sorry for making you all endure my rantings. It just sickens me to see the soldiers over there getting picked off. And I wait to get the messages from my friends that other friends have gotten killed.
I have a good friend here, Frog, and he and his wife are moving to Hawaii to the 25th Infantry Division. Frog just found out that he will be going back to Iraq in January with the 25th. He just got back here in September. Some woudl say that is his job, and that is true it is his job. but is it the job of his wife and 3 daughters? Should he get out of the Army? maybe, but throw away the past 16 years of his life...that is what he has invested in his retirement. His youngest daughter will be 4 next summer, and he will have spent 2 of those 4 years in Iraq.
Soldiers do these things because most people wont, or cant. But at what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do our soldiers become more important than the reasons that we are in Iraq? I see soldiers lose their familes every day to divorce and infidelity, and sometimes death.
With this weekend being Veterns Day weekend please shake the hand of a vetern/soldeir. Trust me it is nice for someone to recognize what we do sometimes. Get and address of a soldier over there, or anywhere and become a PenPal. Any support they get helps....We spend money over here on everything, we go out to eat, buy videos, and buy things we dont really need....How about the next time you feel the urge to spend money, you send a soldier a bag of chips, or a deck of cards. While you went to Outback last night with the wife and kids, he sat and opened his MRE or sat down to a meal of A rations.
Just a few thoughts.....sorry for the rantings fellas
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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necro
Needs a job
My Grandma Is A Virgin
Posts: 2148
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posted November 08, 2003 08:29 AM
Too bad the gevernment doesn't take care of the soldiers as well as the people in the airport did.
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3829
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Hells Dark Lord
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living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted November 08, 2003 09:21 AM
amen necro
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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yzfone
Novice Class
Posts: 69
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posted November 09, 2003 09:03 AM
I just returned to Iraq from my two week leave and the reception at Baltimore and again in Nashville was incredible. We didnt know how to react as we walked past the gates and waiting passengers began to applaud. Most of the airlines have special rates for the soldiers and do everything they can to get them home as quick as possible.
HDL I know what your friend is going thru, In the last three years I have spent 8 months in Kosovo, 6 months in Afghanistan and I have been here for nearly 8 months.
I'm in an air ambulance unit here and our aircrews see first hand whats going on. I also knew the two crewchiefs of the Blackhawk that was shot down earlier this week. One of them had a daughter he hadnt seen yet. I agree something needs to happen, but if we leave Iraq will fall back into Saddams hands and we will be back again.
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necro
Needs a job
My Grandma Is A Virgin
Posts: 2148
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posted November 09, 2003 10:32 AM
I agree yzfone. We started this, we have to finish it.
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3829
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Hells Dark Lord
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living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted November 09, 2003 03:09 PM
yes we do need to finish it, but we need to step up those operations....we are being way to nice over there...we need to keep kicking ass untill they quit fighting, then we need to get our asses out of there asap....
I can tell you first hand that the restrictions put on soldiers over there sucks, I have patroled Baghdad, in a truck and on foot, and I have done the same in Falleujia....Falleujia is a cess poll of hatred and poverty, its a place that will never accept our presence, and will continue to fight us there......we need to react much more violently than we do...intimidation is going to be a key to keeping them quiet in towns like that...the people there dont understand any other way.......
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted November 09, 2003 03:11 PM
yzfione...THANK YOU for what you do....I appreciate it very much, and I know the other guys here do to....guys like you keep us a free country.. So to you I raise up my bottle and say" Cheers" this buds for you brother.....
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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