Paul, Amen.
Sandy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ariel" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 5:42 PM
Subject: A TRUE STORY AMERICANS CAN TAKE PRIDE IN


> Subject: 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 cancelled 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 cancelled 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 heart-felt 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
>