Dad sent me this story.....

[theoddz]

My dad sent this to me.....thought I'd pass it on.


> > A Day at Baltimore Airport
> >
> > 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
> > WarII.
> >
> > 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
> >
> >

[Mom]

Well said. And I will pass it on...

[sfc_darrel]

Thank you for sharing. Sent on.

[DMZ-LT]

Damn sandstorms !

[frisco-kid]

Thanks for sharing it.