Thanks for the ping, Gabz!
I was at the airport last night to pick my wife up. She's been in the PI for a month and a half.
Got to talking to a young Marine. Seems like he had a 36 hour layover in KC and the airline had sent his duffle bag ot Cancoun, Mexico. It had everything in it. His clothes, his money, his ATM and credit cards.
The airline gave him a couple of the small pillows and a couple of the thin airline blankets and told him they would have his duffle to him about 2:00 PM the next day. His next flight didn't leave until 11:00 PM.
I asked him if he would take some help if it was offered. He said sure.
I told him that we would stick around to pick up my wife and then he could come home with us, stay the night, eat a couple of good meals, and I would take him back to the airport the next day.
You should have seen the look of increduality on his face!
He said to me, "You don't know me. Why would you offer to do that for me?"
I just said that I had been in the military, been stuck in airports with no luggage, and wished that someone had done it for me.
He came home with us and slept the night. He's at my house right now with my wife feeding him up nicely with some Italian beef sandwiches, pepperincinis, and iced tea.
He's headed back to Fallujah. He had 12 days leave after 14 months in Iraq.
I figure it's the least I could do for one of our servicemen.
Here's a sampling:
I was shocked to see the front page of your newspaper.
Showing a GI smoking and portraying it as being cool is disgusting, to say the least.
First of all, you are promoting smoking, even though it is a health hazard.
Secondly, our brave men and women are fighting a tough war in Iraq, and to show them as you did does not do them justice.
Maybe showing a Marine in a tank, helping another GI or drinking water would have had a more positive impact on your readers.
Smoking should be outlawed, not endorsed.
Ali Mahdi
And here's a link to the rest of the letters in today's edition:
http://nypost.com/postopinion/letters/33900.htm
Regards,