As the son of a Vietnam vet, this rings quite true to me.

On Thursday, March 30, I was in the Atlanta airport returning to Tallahassee from Washington.

When I landed, I proceeded to my gate, E-35, for the 2:30 p.m. flight home.

As I was walking down terminal E, I saw many of our soldiers who had been home for a two-week break and were now returning to Iraq. I spoke with them and thanked them for their service.

When I arrived at my gate, I noticed there were at least 20 more heroes sitting at gate E-35 waiting for their flight to return to Iraq. I walked over there and started speaking to most of these men and women.

I met a captain from Virginia who was returning to Mosul, Iraq, to serve another six months.

He was a young captain, and told me he appreciated that I thanked the younger troops for their service, because it meant a lot to them to hear that from civilians. I told him it was my honor to do so.

I spoke to most of these courageous men and women, joked with them about their laptops and told them that when I was in the military, we had typewriters.

They laughed at that!

As I waved goodbye to them and walked across the hall to my gate, I thought about how brave and how committed they are to completing the mission they have been asked to.

My heart goes out to our soldiers. I get so emotional because they are young and fully dedicated to completing their mission. (I also got mad because I noticed that most passengers simply walked past the soldiers without saying "thank you" or even a simple hello or welcome home.)

I then thought how lucky America is to have heroes like these serving our country. These are truly future leaders of our country in every sector — business, government, etc.

It wasn't long before they announced that my flight was boarding, and as I was in line, I placed my head down and asked our Father in heaven to help these soldiers complete their mission so they can rejoin their families soon. When I handed the airline attendant my ticket, she looked at my eyes and asked me if I was OK. I answered I was fine; just those "old allergies" had come.

Please, wherever you are and wherever you see our troops, thank them, talk with them — no matter how you feel about the issues or no matter how busy you are. These young men and women are our heroes and they deserve our respect and affection.

Thank you.

Amen.

Posted by: Greg at 08:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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