Posted on 10/20/2004 8:36:09 AM PDT by Dubya
ARLINGTON - A month ago, Michael Tedford was patrolling a military camp near the embattled city of Fallujah. This week, he returned to the front of his classroom at Jones Elementary School in the Mansfield school district.
On Tuesday, school officials held a surprise welcome ceremony where he raised the flag and led the students in the Pledge of Allegiance.
"We have one of our teachers back. We have one of our heroes," Principal Karl Bethel said.
Tedford, a fourth-grade teacher and member of the National Guard, was in Iraq for nearly a year, mostly near Baghdad and Fallujah.
He was able to teach English classes to young children a few times while helping rebuild a school near Habbaniyah, for which he also collected school supplies from relatives and friends at Jones Elementary.
But getting back into his old routine may take some time. It's a little unsettling for him to be without his body armor or M-16 rifle, he said.
Tedford's son, Christian, a kindergartner at the school, still worries about his dad.
"When we shut the door, dad jumped into the grass," Christian said.
Tedford said the sound reminded him of a mortar so he dove for cover.
Susan Tedford said it wasn't until her husband came home that she realized how much her son worried about his dad.
"I didn't realize until Mike came back how much was on his heart," she said.
I will! I promise! :-)
How much has changed since American soldiers were spat at when coming home from war.
Are you allowed to carry weapons there to protect yourselves? If Hammil had had a gun, he could have jumped those guys.
We're not allowed to. Hammill was with an armed fuel convoy that was attacked. He works for the same company I do.
We were just glad he escaped. We were overjoyed to get one of our own back.
Of course, he's home now. :-)
It's not fair, 'cause the bad guys do carry weapons. Is there any way you can protect youself in contingency? If you cannot elaborate it's fine. It's just so frustrating seeing the scum acting so damned brave against unarmed and unprotected. They would not look so brave if they had to put iodine on their foreheads so that the wound did not get infected when the bullet hits them in the head.
But we're confined to our bases. Fortunately, I'm on a pretty big one.
This sounds better. Take care and keep safe. Will pray for your safety. I am Jewish, so I will put in a good word for you (jez kiddn). But pray I will.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.