SwiftVets.com

[KorVetBob]

Someone sent this to me. I thought it would be nice to forward, especially this time of year.

I sat in my seat of the Boeing 767 waiting for everyone to hurry and stow their carry-ons and grab a seat so we could start what I was sure to be a long, uneventful flight home. With the huge capacity and slow moving people taking their time to stuff luggage far too big for the overhead and never paying much attention to holding up the growing line behind them, I simply shook my head knowing that this flight was not starting out very well. I was anxious to get home to see my loved ones so I was focused on "my" issues and just felt like standing up and yelling for some of these clowns to get their act together. I knew I couldn't say a word so I just thumbed thru the "Sky Mall" magazine from the seat pocket in front of me. You know it's really getting rough when you resort to the over priced, useless sky mall crap to break the monotony. With everyone finally seated, we just sat there with the cabin door open and no one in any hurry to get us going although we were well past the scheduled take off time. No wonder the airline industry is in trouble I told myself. Just then, the attendant came on the intercom to inform us all that we were being delayed. The entire plane let out a collective groan. She resumed speaking to say "We are holding the aircraft for some very special people who are on their way to the plane and the delay shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. The word came after waiting six times as long as we were promised that "I" was finally going to be on my way home. Why the hoopla over "these" folks? I was expecting some celebrity or sport figure to be the reason for the hold up.........Just get their butts in a seat and lets hit the gas I thought. The attendant came back on the speaker to announce in a loud and excited voice that we were being joined by several U. S. Marines returning home from Iraq! Just as they walked on board, the entire plane erupted into applause. The men were a bit taken by surprise by the 340 people cheering for them as they searched for their seats. They were having their hands shook and touched by almost everyone who was within an arm's distance of them as they passed down the aisle. One elderly woman kissed the hand of one of the Marines as he passed by her. The applause, whistles and cheering didn't stop for a long time. When we were finally airborne, "I" was not the only civilian checking his conscience as to the delays in "me" getting home, finding my easy chair, a cold beverage and the remote in my hand. These men had done for all of us and I had been complaining silently about "me" and "my" issues. I took for granted the everyday freedoms I enjoy and the conveniences of the American way of life I took for granted others paid the price for my ability to moan and complain about a few minutes delay to "me" those Heroes going home to their loved ones. I attempted to get my selfish outlook back in order and minutes before we landed I suggested to the attendant that she announce over the speaker a request for everyone to remain in their seats until our hero's were allowed to gather their things and be first off the plane. The cheers and applause continued until the last Marine stepped off and we all rose to go about our too often taken for granted everyday freedoms......... I felt proud of them. I felt it an honor and a privilege to be among the first to welcome them home and say Thank You for a job well done. I vowed that I will never forget that flight nor the lesson learned. I can't say it enough, THANK YOU to those Veterans and active servicemen and women who may read this and a prayer for those who cannot because they are no longer with us.
GOD BLESS AMERICA! WELCOME HOME! AND THANKS FOR A JOB WELL DONE !!!!!
_________________
Ret. USMC Korean War Vet.

[Tom Poole]

[mtboone]

On a mini Swift reunion in Seattle this last July, I was on board an American Airlines flight out of Dallas and about 25 men and women on R & R back to see their families and then had to return to Iraq for over a month to complete their tour. American Airlines paid for all their drinks and after they had been up for over 24 hours returning to the States, fell silently asleep. I had a great time to talk with many of them before they went out and they were so quiet and somber about their time over their or their deeds. I told them "Thank you for serving" and when they learned I was in VN, they all said "Thank You and you VN vets were treated badly." 35 years later and here I am feeling embarrassed and the pain from a time that should have been over. This is what JFK did not realize that the Vets would feel when he came along and Reported for Duty. Kerry opened the scar and now I feel it will never heal until we are gone. He has created a division among the vets and it was all for political gain and now a fight exiests among us. That is his sad legacy he has left us vets, relive the silent and hidden years of just trying exiest in a society that did not want to know what happened but thought that they did.
_________________
Terry Boone PCF 90
Qui Nhon 68-69

[Mother]

Boone. I don't know if I'd kick your butt or squeeze you tight.
If wishes were...however that goes, I'd wish the pain away.
Don't you dare let him make you hurt another minute.
Do you know how many kids are at boot camp this very minute, voluntarily? It's incredible to realize. Mine wanted Bush, knew about Kerry, through you to me, and joined anyway, BEFORE the election. All of them at boot camp did. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

I don't know about anybody else. But I'll fight to my last breath to keep it from ever happening to anyone else. And I wish I'd been old enough to do it for you. But I ain't dead yet, and I vow on all that's holy and good that Kerry's legacy won't die as long as I live and breathe.



Damn Kerry to hell.

[I B Squidly]

KorVetBob,
I appreciate your initial frustration and Sky Mall operates out of Phoenix. Air travel just aint what it used to be. Congrats to the boys.

Me? I fell between the cracks. Neither the receptence of the desert boys nor the rejection of the 'Nam guys. By '89 I'd seen the Starck missiled, the Roberts mined and climbing aboard a commercial flight in Oakland the flight attendent asked of my Cracker Jack if it was "some kind of uniform"?

Well, I wasn't in it for the glory and there were plenty of girls glad to make a sailor happy. I can't complain.

My admiration and future commerce to the airline that provided the delay. Please tell.

[coldwarvet]

God bless America and our young men & women in harms way keeping us out of harm ways.

On December 31st, 1975 I boarded a Braniff Airlines 727. I had just completed boot camp and was returning home on leave. I was proudly wearing my dress uniform sitting in my window seat. A thirty something women sat in the isle seat one seat over. Once the plane completed boarding the thirty something women surveyed her options and re sat herself in a different isle seat. I guess she just didn’t want to be seated near someone that she perceived to be a baby killer or something.

We have come a long way since 1975.

CWV
_________________
Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.

"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto

USAF 75-79 Security Police

[Nutso]

My son leaves Iraq this Thursday, starts the long journey home by way of Kuwait and Germany, I hope he receives that kind of welcome along the way. He came home on leave last summer, and during a layover in Atlanta he and a buddy were having lunch and a pilot stopped to thank them and dropped a 20 on the table for their lunch. When they got ready to leave another guy reached over and grabbed the check and told the waitress to add it to his bill. This is the kind of people that make America strong, not the whining libs trying to terar it down at every turn. I am proud of my country, my son and his fellow soldiers and sailors. We need to keep up the good fight, stop the bleeding from the left and show the world we will not back traitors like Kerry.