Would You Do This For Another Soldier's Daughter?
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Would You Do This For Another Soldier's Daughter?
The Nationality doesn't matter....just the thought the story tells.
The daughter of a Soldier
Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was
in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me
beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed
one of the greatest act's of patriotism I have ever seen.
Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camo's, as
they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was
abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw
the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for it
hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded American who still
loves this country and supports our troops and their families.
Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young
unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us
so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service
men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to
one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl
then she asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.
The young soldier, he didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he
would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the
little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug
she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was
Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had
been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her
daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear
up.
When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation,
all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the
other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They
started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over
to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and
he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he
had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying
"your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and
he is coming home very soon."
The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young
soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was
standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event unfolded. As
the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed
their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, their
were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last
act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a
tear rolling down his cheek.
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and
thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's
good to be an American.
Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was
in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me
beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed
one of the greatest act's of patriotism I have ever seen.
Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camo's, as
they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was
abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw
the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for it
hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded American who still
loves this country and supports our troops and their families.
Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young
unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us
so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service
men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to
one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl
then she asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.
The young soldier, he didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he
would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the
little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug
she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was
Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had
been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her
daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear
up.
When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation,
all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the
other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They
started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over
to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and
he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he
had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying
"your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and
he is coming home very soon."
The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young
soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was
standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event unfolded. As
the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed
their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, their
were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last
act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a
tear rolling down his cheek.
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and
thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's
good to be an American.
Standby for all our cynical Brit friends to chime in.
This type of ****e does happen in the UK, God (or the queen) forbid it should ever make it to the press. Couldn't have the cynics panning their own. Then again, many lefties in the UK think its some jingoistic statement to fly the union jack. Don't want to piss off the immigrants.
I standby to be pleasantly surprised.
I can see one of the thankfully few, yawning as they emerge from the rack, scratching themselves in that place. Stretching as they start the computer, "Awww, bloody 'ell, what's this stooopid Yank stuff, let me get busy"
This type of ****e does happen in the UK, God (or the queen) forbid it should ever make it to the press. Couldn't have the cynics panning their own. Then again, many lefties in the UK think its some jingoistic statement to fly the union jack. Don't want to piss off the immigrants.
I standby to be pleasantly surprised.
I can see one of the thankfully few, yawning as they emerge from the rack, scratching themselves in that place. Stretching as they start the computer, "Awww, bloody 'ell, what's this stooopid Yank stuff, let me get busy"
Cunning Artificer
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We have stiff upper lips West Coast so it wouldn't happen to us. But we feel the same, believe me.
I've been a little boy with a Dad who was in harm's way. Mum and I were at a showground (The Billingham Show if anyone knows the North east) and there was a Royal Navy team there. Among their exhibits, they had a short wave radio and my Mum asked them if they could contact HMS Rinaldo on it. They fiddled about, made contact and next thing you know we were talking to Yeoman of Sigs Blacksheep. A crowd had gathered round and quite a cheer went up.
I've been a little boy with a Dad who was in harm's way. Mum and I were at a showground (The Billingham Show if anyone knows the North east) and there was a Royal Navy team there. Among their exhibits, they had a short wave radio and my Mum asked them if they could contact HMS Rinaldo on it. They fiddled about, made contact and next thing you know we were talking to Yeoman of Sigs Blacksheep. A crowd had gathered round and quite a cheer went up.
The thing that's most alien to a Brit in this report is probably the cheering and clapping. We're just a more reserved and less demonstrative bunch, who might nod and smile our support and gratitude, or even say a quiet word, but would be unlikely to applaud. And perhaps especially not at the moment - when many support and appreciate our forces but who do not support the war in which they are engaged, and who do not therefore feel 'pride' for their participation. But we probably wouldn't have clapped even during a popular war - like GW1 or the Falklands.
We still sometimes stand for our national anthem, with a vague air of embarrassed patriotism, but we don't put our hands over our hearts, and we would view the US habit of getting schoolkids to swear alleigance to the flag as being somewhere between embarrassing, amusing, rather silly and slightly sinister. We regard the spontaneous chanting of "Oo Ess Ay" when GWB witters on with his homespun homilies with bemusement and/or disdain.
But we have our own stupid ways of displaying patriotism, too. Watch a Brit's eyes if Nimrod is played (about half of them will well up!) and listen to "God Save the Queen" being bellowed out as we watch our national soccer team sliding towards the next inevitable defeat. Or consider the quiet but arrogant way in which many of us are quietly convinced that we're better than you lot simply because we're lucky enough to have been born British.
So it's not the patriotism that the cynics will bash, nor the underlying emotions, it's the SEEMINGLY rather unsophisticated, APPARENTLY slightly crass, and ARGUABLY moronic way in which it's expressed. It's probably none of those things, it's just different, and it doesn't chime with our more cynical nature, nor with our more sarcastic and ironic sense of 'humor'.
We still sometimes stand for our national anthem, with a vague air of embarrassed patriotism, but we don't put our hands over our hearts, and we would view the US habit of getting schoolkids to swear alleigance to the flag as being somewhere between embarrassing, amusing, rather silly and slightly sinister. We regard the spontaneous chanting of "Oo Ess Ay" when GWB witters on with his homespun homilies with bemusement and/or disdain.
But we have our own stupid ways of displaying patriotism, too. Watch a Brit's eyes if Nimrod is played (about half of them will well up!) and listen to "God Save the Queen" being bellowed out as we watch our national soccer team sliding towards the next inevitable defeat. Or consider the quiet but arrogant way in which many of us are quietly convinced that we're better than you lot simply because we're lucky enough to have been born British.
So it's not the patriotism that the cynics will bash, nor the underlying emotions, it's the SEEMINGLY rather unsophisticated, APPARENTLY slightly crass, and ARGUABLY moronic way in which it's expressed. It's probably none of those things, it's just different, and it doesn't chime with our more cynical nature, nor with our more sarcastic and ironic sense of 'humor'.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Originally Posted by Jackonicko
Watch a Brit's eyes if Nimrod is played (about half of them will well up!) .
teeteringhead
I did as you suggested, a good read. One thing I read in that thread and posted below scares the hell out of me. Whatever your vets and politicians have to do to stifle that attitude amongst a (hopefully) small minority needs to be done quickly lest the mood feed upon and expand.
"It seems we are to be treated as the Americans were upon return from Vietnam"
I did as you suggested, a good read. One thing I read in that thread and posted below scares the hell out of me. Whatever your vets and politicians have to do to stifle that attitude amongst a (hopefully) small minority needs to be done quickly lest the mood feed upon and expand.
"It seems we are to be treated as the Americans were upon return from Vietnam"
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Silberfuchs, even if it didn't happen the way it was reported or at all it should have, every nation/society needs myths to draw strength from and perhaps this is a modern one- don't go looking for the 'truth' to deeply – I’m enough of a historian to know that most ‘facts’ are a mixture of what really happened, what should have and what someone wanted to happen but probably didn’t.
If you want to be cynical that's fine, personally I've had enough cynicism to last a lifetime and am happy to accept a few myths, otherwise the world becomes a very hard and cold place. IMO people are generally decent and the military (UK and US) are supported in general terms by their respective populations despite the best efforts of the media
If you want to be cynical that's fine, personally I've had enough cynicism to last a lifetime and am happy to accept a few myths, otherwise the world becomes a very hard and cold place. IMO people are generally decent and the military (UK and US) are supported in general terms by their respective populations despite the best efforts of the media
Last edited by Maple 01; 4th Jul 2006 at 06:50.
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West Coast,
I can understand your cynisism, but I would think that it happens quite frequently, and the answer to the question is a resounding YES!
Our problem over here, is that we don't 'advertise' the point like you guys do. I'm not saying you have it wrong tho',I believe that is a mistake on our part and I think we should promote these kinds of things, perhaps not to the extent that the you guys do, but promote them nevertheless.
Sadly, our problem here is that our government regards our service men and women as nothing more than 'cattle fodder' They are treated quite appallingly (as teeteringhead says, read "Uniform in Airports" thread.....)
I would much prefer your way to ours. Indeed, when ever I go to the States, even now as a retired serviceman) I am humbled at being treated better than I am in my own country! Thank you for that.
The Winco
I can understand your cynisism, but I would think that it happens quite frequently, and the answer to the question is a resounding YES!
Our problem over here, is that we don't 'advertise' the point like you guys do. I'm not saying you have it wrong tho',I believe that is a mistake on our part and I think we should promote these kinds of things, perhaps not to the extent that the you guys do, but promote them nevertheless.
Sadly, our problem here is that our government regards our service men and women as nothing more than 'cattle fodder' They are treated quite appallingly (as teeteringhead says, read "Uniform in Airports" thread.....)
I would much prefer your way to ours. Indeed, when ever I go to the States, even now as a retired serviceman) I am humbled at being treated better than I am in my own country! Thank you for that.
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Guys,
Why let the truth get in the way of a good story. We in the military (and our American cousins) need all the help we can get to garner support of the press, the people and the politicians in this crazy world. Thus, any form of Media Ops can help, true or false.
Yes, we Brits are too reserved and wouldn't clap or cheer but a little respect for the military in this country would not go amiss.
Britain is a strange place to live when it comes to pride in ones' nation. The Scots, Irish and Welsh are all proud to display overt patriotism but patriotism is a dirty word in England! The cross of St George has been hijacked by football fans (you should have seen how quickly they came off their cars when the World Cup was over for England) and political correctness and ethnic sensitivities too often overrule. But as Brits as a nation, IMHO, we now lack a true single identity. Too many forces and government decisions whether they have been to break down the Union brick by brick or increase immigration (there are plenty more examples) have taken their toll.
Sasless,
Thanks for the post, true or false, it sends a clear message to the American people and brought a tear to my sentimental old eye. I wish we could do the same here but the Brits are as West Coast implies, albeit slightly cynically, too worried about the consequences of overt support of their military (and here I include members of the Government). It won't change.
FW
Why let the truth get in the way of a good story. We in the military (and our American cousins) need all the help we can get to garner support of the press, the people and the politicians in this crazy world. Thus, any form of Media Ops can help, true or false.
Yes, we Brits are too reserved and wouldn't clap or cheer but a little respect for the military in this country would not go amiss.
Britain is a strange place to live when it comes to pride in ones' nation. The Scots, Irish and Welsh are all proud to display overt patriotism but patriotism is a dirty word in England! The cross of St George has been hijacked by football fans (you should have seen how quickly they came off their cars when the World Cup was over for England) and political correctness and ethnic sensitivities too often overrule. But as Brits as a nation, IMHO, we now lack a true single identity. Too many forces and government decisions whether they have been to break down the Union brick by brick or increase immigration (there are plenty more examples) have taken their toll.
Sasless,
Thanks for the post, true or false, it sends a clear message to the American people and brought a tear to my sentimental old eye. I wish we could do the same here but the Brits are as West Coast implies, albeit slightly cynically, too worried about the consequences of overt support of their military (and here I include members of the Government). It won't change.
FW
He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
I suspect that no matter how innocent the gesture was, had this happened in the UK the soldier would have been instantly branded as a Paedophile such as it is these days in this lame society of ours.
I suspect that no matter how innocent the gesture was, had this happened in the UK the soldier would have been instantly branded as a Paedophile such as it is these days in this lame society of ours.
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True or not...
It is a great story that brings a tear to the eye, as a parent to a young girl, I'd like to think that a colleague might do that for me, whilst I'm off sweating my @rse off in some sandy hole somewhere! PYSOPS, Cynicism, bending the truth, who cares, it is a feel good story, so thanks for original posting.
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Wasnt going to post again but that story brought a tear to my eye.
I don't care if it is made up but it makes you think and that is what is needed. Another reason for people to think about the sacrifices being made by people at home and abroad.
I don't care if it is made up but it makes you think and that is what is needed. Another reason for people to think about the sacrifices being made by people at home and abroad.
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Originally Posted by Silberfuchs
Whilst desperate to let us know 'he was really there' he provides no other details wrt time/place of the event other than 'Atlanta, Georgia....last week' sometime, maybe?
I wasnt there, I did not see the event. But I'll bet my house it is true. This is a scene that happens just about every day. A few months back, I was idly sitting in the bar, when an older guy pitches up, clears his throat, and announces that he'll buy a drink for every soldier in uniform in the bar. There must have been 100 men and women in there.
The airport itself allows uniformed personnel access to the fast track departure system, the airlines will upgrade uniformed personnel. People willingly give them priority in queues. Particularly those in desert combats.
Occasionally, I have been lucky enough to witness the return of the air trooping flights. The inter-concourse train returns passengers to baggage claim, again between North and South Terminals, all arriving passengers will come out here. At the top of the escalators is a favourite spot to meet people. The USO stand there is a very heart warming thing. I've seen lots of tears shed there, and the scene of a little girl hanging off daddy's neck as he struggles to carry his daughter and his pack. But he doesn't care, because the tears are streaming down his face. He's Hercules at that moment.
The tears are streaming down my face as I am writing this post, because it really gets to me, the cynicism. Downright lack of patriotism over there. I read only this morning that 13% of the oxymoronic "British Muslims" think that the 7th July bombers were martyrs. WTF!!!! Last July 7, I got emails from US acquaintances spread throughout this country expressing their sorrow, and hopes that the tradgedy had not touched me personally, nor my (UK-based) company.
So, enough detail for you, Silberfuchs?
Originally Posted by Silberfuchs
Like most here I have my chest of medals from the worlds slagheaps.....
How poignant that I write this post on Independence Day. I think I just made my mind up too. Thanks.
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Originally Posted by An Teallach
Why oxymoronic? I understand you have a fair number of Americans who are Muslim.
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yes is the answer to your question i would do that.
wanted to relate a ancedote to you guys of similar vein. about two airshows ago I was walking around the static display with my father when i heard a small voice behind me piped up "scuse me mister" i turned around and there were two wee boys about 7 year old "could we have your autograph?" I did point out i was only a armourer and not a pilot "thats ok mister" was the reply, so i signed there programme and asked if they were enjoying the day and what they liked and I told them what armourer did. At this point there mum came up and told me they wanted to be fighter pilots and were RAF daft and thanked me for my time, I was chuffed to bits and it made the long day that the airshow is worth it why?
Because about 18years before that day I myself stood on the same pan asking big ppl in green suits for there autographs and thinking "someday i will be doing that just like you"
and yes i still have the programmes in my bookshelf
wanted to relate a ancedote to you guys of similar vein. about two airshows ago I was walking around the static display with my father when i heard a small voice behind me piped up "scuse me mister" i turned around and there were two wee boys about 7 year old "could we have your autograph?" I did point out i was only a armourer and not a pilot "thats ok mister" was the reply, so i signed there programme and asked if they were enjoying the day and what they liked and I told them what armourer did. At this point there mum came up and told me they wanted to be fighter pilots and were RAF daft and thanked me for my time, I was chuffed to bits and it made the long day that the airshow is worth it why?
Because about 18years before that day I myself stood on the same pan asking big ppl in green suits for there autographs and thinking "someday i will be doing that just like you"
and yes i still have the programmes in my bookshelf