Until Everyone Comes Home!!

This is my brother, who is now an Air Force Colonel, while he was serving in Iraq. He is safely home with his family now. I want to share some thoughts from two of my friends. First, my good friend, Heidi, in Texas shared a personal experience on her blog. She titled it, "Fight for Freedom...with Winnie the Pooh".

"I was in the airport on Monday when a group of soldiers caught my eye. Actually, it was one in particular that caught my eye. He was tall! I would say at least six foot five or six and really cute. They were dressed like the soldiers in the picture. You could tell by watching them.....they were on their way out, not coming home. I watched this group of men and thought for a few minutes about the sacrifices they make every day on our behalf.

The group turned to walk towards their gate. As the cute one turned around, I saw his backpack for the first time. Peeking out the top, was a ratty Winnie the Pooh. It looked to me like a gift from a little one who was at home. He took a couple of steps away from the group to answer his cell phone. As he leaned against the wall, I watched him slowly sink to the floor and start to cry. My best guess.....the person on the phone was the same one who had stuffed that Winnie the Pooh into his backpack
that morning.

That is about the point in time I had to duck into the bathroom to get a Kleenex. This was a real-life McDonald’s commercial!!

I have always had an incredible amount of respect for our armed forces. I could never do what they do.....and I am a tough cookie!!

Typically, I think about the physical aspect of their job. However, today I learned a lesson from an old ratty Winnie the Pooh. Perhaps their greatest sacrifice is in being able to walk out that door to catch a flight, not knowing when or if you will be coming home. What a lesson in faith and commitment!!"

Second, my good Nebraska friend, Amber, is married to a Military Man. (That's Tony on the right.) She had a post titled "A Face of Sacrifice". She had read about Senior Airman Shawn Ryan, a 20-something yr. old military policeman at Sheppard AFB in Texas with whom she was impressed. She says:

"...This is his write up.

'Earned Army Commendation Medal and Combat Action Badge for his actions during voluntary year-long deployment to Camp Victory in Iraq...continued to help repel enemy attack though wounded, receiving the Purple Heart...provided life-saving buddy care to wounded team member...stopped speeding vehicle-borne IED, killing terrorist...instructed thousands of Iraqi policemen...conducted nearly 200 combat patrols...detected artillery round rigged to explode, preventing injury to troops and damage to assets...shared his M-2 machine gun expertise with team members, provided gunner-down training and enhancing unit's combat capability.'

Wow. When most young people are going to college, concerts, hanging out with friends and keeping their own schedules, this young man is being a hero.

Literally. I wish we weren't in Iraq. I wish we weren't in Afghanistan. But no matter what I wish, we are there. And so now we have no choice but to support our troops.

Until everyone comes home."

I echo their sentiments.