Was emailed this from my step-mom hope you all like it.
The writer and his wife live in LA and both work for Uncle Sam.
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 War II.
> >
> >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
