Moved by a stirring and heart tugging Veteran’s Day tribute to soldiers of the past by the students at Marshwood Middle School in Maine (http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20101106-NEWS-11060319), I finally am motivated to see what being a Pease Greeter entails (http://peasegreeters.org/). With good friends Ronnie and Dennis we drive ten miles south from our home in York, ME to the Pease Airport in Portsmouth, NH, where we will soon be a part of 200+ people greeting a plane of servicewomen and men, briefly stopping for maybe an hour at Pease, so their plane can refuel.
At Pease, our tour guide takes us down the Heroes Walk hallway, which is lined with group shots of troops from the previous 400+ flights that came through. Since Pease is not a commercial airport, access to the terminal is wide open and friendly. Passing tables with word search and crossword puzzle books, a soccer ball, dice, a yoyo, playing cards, and water bottles, I see the gifts the troops are given to take overseas or to use as presents for loved ones as they head for home. Learning that today there is a charter flight of medics coming from Fort Lewis in Washington State to Kuwait, we will soon welcome the 403rd flight. In the reception area with donated Dunkin Donuts, Green Mountain Coffee, Cokes, and Girl Scout cookies for the incoming troops, we expectantly wait. There is a bank of fifteen phones ready for the troops to use.
Waiting, it’s not hard for me to make the leap that our daughter Robyn was on such a flight when she was headed to Afghanistan back in 2006. I know so little of her experience. Perhaps, she and I wanted it that way. No longer regular Army, Robyn is now in the National Guard. She is now preparing for 2012 deployment back to Afghanistan. Hannah and I will be in her corner.
I look up above the greeters lining the wall to avoid eye contact as I mist up and am sobered by what these soldiers are sacrificing. Time with their families. Time just hanging out without the fear of enemy attack. My sacrifice these days? Well, this afternoon I am missing Tom Brady v. Cleveland Browns.
As the medics come through the door, applause builds. These 50 medics, one quarter of which are women, give low fives to the school age girls next to us, while other soldiers look straight ahead. Later we learn that they have been up for 30 hours with a flight to Iceland coming in the next hour.
In the reception area, I learn from a Seelinger that these are all reserves from the Erie, PA area. Versed in CLS (Combat Life Saving) skills, they sip coffee and munch on doughnuts as they agreeably answer our questions. I detect no fear or trepidation of what lies ahead on their faces. I learn this is their second tour - a 400-day tour - that they hope will be just nine months. When I ask where they go from Iceland, they smile and hedge. Loose lips sink ships still holds. Like hiking, the best part of the day is talking to the medics and I am energized being in their presence. These are American heroes.
At the send off ceremony, the group picture is taken under the “Welcome to New Hampshire – US Customs and Border Protection” lettering. The Star Spangled Banner is sung and seamlessly we all join in. For a moment, I am a part of something bigger than my own little, insular life. Today we are one, not pro- or anti-war, Democratic or Republican. As a one-time conscientious objector, I stand with veterans to thank these soldiers for their service. “We the old warriors salute the young warriors.” Soon they will reboard their charter flight on a Boeing 737-800, and my life will continue on. I’ll catch the end of the Patriot game, but I have been changed, if every so slightly. I have a new commitment, a new mission, another way to make a difference. We’ll see what sacrifice I will make.
Whoa. I tried to post but seem to have sent it into the nether-net.
ReplyDeleteMy comments were that I too, an old-er liberal peace monger, have been changed by MMS Veteran's Day ceremonies and several events with 8th graders greeting the troops. I get it - now. It is not about "the government," it is about those who serve. Still I long for the day when we wage more peace than war. Is the answer still "blowing in the wind?"
It was great to see you today, also. You have guided many a burgeoning teacher into fulfilling a mission - to become a teacher. Your teaching career at all the levels has reached many, myself included. (I will always be grateful that my children had you as a teacher in Middle School, and that I was allowed into your classroom to learn from you.) Good luck in your retirement. I am sure you will have much to do.