Moments of Military Appreciation

[SlightlyCatholic]

Ladies and Gents,

Have you ever had anything like this happen to you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caeK4iLVShk

It's a pretty simple topic, but I've always been curious how much this happens since I've never seen it happen in person.

Anyone who wants to share experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time everyone and God bless.

Tim

[63Bravo]

Ladies and Gents,

Have you ever had anything like this happen to you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caeK4iLVShk

It's a pretty simple topic, but I've always been curious how much this happens since I've never seen it happen in person.

Anyone who wants to share experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time everyone and God bless.

Tim
I cant say as I have ever had "applause" break out for me or a group I was in, but there have been many "thank you`s, thanks for your service, I appreciate what you/you all do" moments in the last 6 or 7 years. I have just about lost count of the number of times myself and my coworkers/unit members have been out in public eating and have had someone anonymously
pay the ticket or part of it.

It really gets to me when its an elderly woman who talks about her husband who fought in WWII but passed a few years back...chokes me up every time.

[Woody]

Only on parades .To be honest I'd find it frankly embarrassing British reserve isn't completely extinct .

[O.O.O.]

Nothing like that, or anything even close, when I returned. But keep in mind that it was many years ago and a different time.

I left Oakland and flew to Denver. from there flew to North Platte on one of those old Convair 580's, if I remember right. There were only two people on that flight in addition to the stewardess. I had a 12 string guitar and played it on the flight to NP and talked to the stewardess who had a brother in Germany at the time. That was the only interaction I had with anyone.

When I got to NP and got into the terminal (very small airport) I met my folks who had driven the 60 miles to get me. One nice thing that I will remember: Some neighbors of ours also showed up at the airport. An older couple and good friends. They had been heading for the "big city" to do some shopping and saw my folks go by. They followed them to the airport, figuring out it was to pick me up, and came to welcome me back along with my folks. I've never forgotten that.

[reddog]

After spending 9 mos at Walter Reed, I needed a bus ride to the airport. As I stood in the crowded bus, struggling to stay upright, in full uniform and on crutches and noone offering me their seat, my thoughts were, "they could kiss my 'Unkie' a$$!" At the airport I was stared at, "there goes one of those guys." Funny,the things we remember. Welcome home, Sergeant!
Reddog...

[txb&b]

I don't live near a military base but fortunately I live in a part of the country where people go out of their way to show their appreciation for our military. Passengers awaiting their flights have been known to break out a roundhouse applause for units traversing our little airport. We have community groups that make it their mission to properly greet troops who are returning home. One group headed by the VN Vet that started it organizes and funds an annual "Show Of Support" banquet and hunting trip for some of our wounded and recovering heroes. This event gets larger every year in the number of troops they host and the banquet is always a sell out. The financial and time contributions this year were such that the wives of these heroes could also be treated to a weekend of fun and shopping while their loved ones were off hunting. It's an awesome site to see these troops/family being chaffuered to the banquet with the Patriot Guard leading the escort.

What I find the most heartwarming and amazing about the appreciation that's shown to our troops is that so much of it is instigated and organized by those same VN Vets who were treated so poorly and are determined that today's troops will never know the same hurt they felt.