Soldiers get special Thanksgiving treat at BWI Airport

Annapolis Capital ^ | Nov. 28, 2003 | Associated Press

[Betteboop]

For a while, military were told not to travel in uniform--now it seems that they are able to travel in BDU's????

[Squantos]

When I returned from Desert Storm it was exactly as these troops experienced........180 out from coming home in 73 at Travis AFB and then San Francisco. Bless all those who support the troops. It does mean a lot to them. It did me !

Stay Safe !

[Old Sarge]

I believe I shall.

Thank you.

[madison10]

Sledgehammer?

Is this what President Bush is called by the troops? Why that name? Just curious.

[Darksheare]

Yes.
And since we got a Pres that doesn't "Loathe the military" like Caligulus Clintonus did, things have drastically changed.

Most of my NCO's had been in Viet nam, and secretly they'd say that things for soldiers were better during Republican administrations.
Being 28, I cannot speak to the experiences of the Viet Nam soldiers, only state the things that my Smoke said when he couldn't forget anymore.
*sigh*
I support the military as a whole.
And while my term in service ended on a sour note, I hold the military itself blameless.
It does distress me that the Viet Nam troops came home to Leftist 'welcoming commitees' or worse.

I wish this could be made up to them, but I'm afraid that there is no way to do that.
Except by not forgetting.
Not forgetting the treachery of the left, the soldiers who died, and those who remain.

I've met a few Viet Nam veterans who weren't bitter about it, but they've also put their service way behind them and barely remember it in passing.
I guess it depends on one's experiences, what tehy went through, and from who it came.

[Darksheare]

No.
Thank You.
Thank you for your service.
And thank you for discussing this.

[Darksheare]

Sledgehammer.
It's what I call him, based on something someone else said.
That Dubya's actions are like a sledgehammer to the Libs ideas(they have any?) of presidential 'propriety'.
He doesn't at all act the way they want him to.

Besides that, it'd be a good handle for him.

[Salvation]

**Lt. Dietz's reaction was typical of the roughly 200 soldiers who joined Southwest Airlines employees on one of the busiest travel days of the year.**

BTTT for Southwest Airlines!

[Darksheare]

I should have specified that I've been out of uniform for roughly three years this December.
I haven't heard what Dubya is referred to by the troops, I've been out too long to hear anything like that, but Clinton was referred to as the BJB and cruder things.

[Samwise]

It's due to quick thinking by some NCO's and a Major that kept things from spiraling further out of whack from there.

How horrible for you and how wonderful that there were people with their heads screwed on right to handle things.

[Old Sarge]

(blush) Aw...

But, I thought I'dshare this, from another thread:

**********************

I wanted everyone else to see how I stack up:

I did four years ROTC, while playing at the same time with a Guard infantry company. That was where I learned my 11C - as a fake E-5, I became a gun chief.

After they pinned 2LT on me, I was one of the only three to make Active Duty, and went MI. Officer Basic at Huachuca gave me all the stuff I needed - so I thought...

First tour was Fort KNox, with a heavy tank battalion, in the S-2 Shop. M60A3's, M113's for the scouts, and 4.2 for the Mortar guys - who only ever shot Smoke and Illum.

Two years and an NTC rotation with them, I went over to the Dark Forces; the strategic intel guys two levels below the street. Stayed out of the light of day for two years, by now reaching Captain.

Back to Huachuca for the Advanced Course, then on to Fort Bliss and 3rd ACR, as a Squadron S-2.

Then comes The Storm. Due to my time behind the black doors, I knew more about OrBat than anyone else, and became the regiment's OrBat Guru. Constant briefings and analysis meant the cav was as prepared as I could get them.

Then, right during the deployment, I get the notice: the RIF arrived, and all people with Reserve commissions (me) were now 60-day losses. My unit went to war - I went to the inactive reserves, and the unemployment office.

Those were the bad years. Bad jobs, worse conditions, then I got back into the National Guard - as an E-5.

Here's where the Laws of Physics get bent. I can become an E-8 without any schooling, due to all my commissioned schools, as long as I stay in an Intel MOS. In FLorida, I was a 96R, being hazed so badly for my former officer status that the IG had to be called in to get them off my back. Moved to Kentucky, and picked up my 13F in an artillery unit.An MI company formed up, and I asked them if "they could used a washed-out MI Captain with some good tread left?"

I was welcomed with open arms, and promised any MOS I wanted. I've trained every section in the company - the interrogators, the agents, the analysts, and the Romeo's. And I've been back on Active Duty since Sept. 12th, doing what's best.

I honestly can't regret anything I've done. I've been able to take at least one lesson from every post and duty. Makes for one helluva quilt.

******************

That's Me, in a lump sum...

[SAMWolf]

You wore the uniform. That's all that matters to me.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Samwise. The majority of Vietnam Vets came home, adjusted and went on with their lives. Hard feelings abour the way we were treated? Sure. But all we can do is make sure it doesn't happen to others again.

[Old Sarge]

You wore the uniform. That's all that matters to me.

Whatcha mean, "wore"?!? I still DO. I'm on watch right now at the Command Center.

[Darksheare]

Not said for sympathy, it's been three years ago that these events occurred, but used as an example of things under Caligulus Clintonus.
Thanks for the concern, and yes, it was a miracle that the guys with their heads on straight were in the right place at the right time.
Not sure what would have happened if the Smoke hadn't been standing there for the one comment, and grabbed my shoulders to steer me away when the Captain who said it turned his back on me with a sneer and a derisive snort.

I know I wouldn't be typing any of this right now.
Yet there were soldiers with worse, far worse, experiences than mine.
One example was a double whammy.
A certain Seargent had a heart attack in the field during AT at Fort Drum. (Heat casualty.)
The Captain refused to call a medevac.
The XO went over his head and did it.
This same Seargent, the next year, had his house burn down while we were at Drum.
Everything was in his name, his wife couldn't do diddly about it.
All he had to do was go back to the rear and meet with the lawyer types to sign over power of attorney.
The Captain wouldn't even allow that.
We sat at Drum for two weeks while this Seargent's family was in a hotel awaiting something to be done about their home.
We got back from Drum, and the Seargent told the Cap, "Sorry, but I have things I need to take care of right now. See ya."
The Cap said, "You leave and I'll AWOL you."
The Seargent said, "Bite me." and left.
And this was just the Captain of my unit, not the whole military.
Imagine officers like that service wide.

Things like that changed after the elections, and alto of useless officers were 'dead-wooded' out.

[snippy_about_it]

I don't care if you swept floors. We've stressed at the Foxhole many times that it does not matter what job you do, every job in the service has an important role to play and supports another, in fact because I do not have any military background and admittedly am not real bright about the lingo, I have no idea what you do or did from your previous post. LOL.

I know I've thanked you before for your service and I'll do it again. Thank you for your service.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I have yet to encounter a Vietnam veteran, face to face or online, who doesn't have a bitter, mean, spiteful comment about how well the troops are saluted today, as opposed to their treatment at the hands of America's Left in the 70's.

And who can blame them. I tell them it is because we feel guilty of the way we treated them that the out pouring is so fervent now. ( I of course was barley two at the time and would never spit on anyone, but I say we, because what have we done to rectify those misdeeds and mend those broken hearts since those days? )

[SAMWolf]

Sorry I took "old" as meaning "ex". ;-)

[Old Sarge]

Heh heh! I get that sometimes, too.

The "Old" comes from being old enough to have bred half the kids in my company. Gods, but they're making recruits younger than they did when I started (cough)...

[speekinout]

There are places (sorry, I don't have the URL) where people can donate FF miles to help the military on leave.
Even a few can be combined with others to give some soldier a free trip.
If I had any left, I'd do it.