Armistice Day

i've had a couple vietnam vets tell me what it was like coming home from war in their day. it's amazing how much things have changed.

i remember when i came back for R&R in april there was a group of people waiting at the top of the escalator exiting the terminal to clap everytime someone in uniform showed up. when i came back a few days ago there were 3 soldiers on the flight from atlanta to philly. when we landed, the flight attendent went thru her speech, local time is 10:53, it's 63 degrees out, and we have some soldiers returning from iraq and afghanistan to go on R&R. then she asked everyone to remain seated so we could disembark first and get that extra couple of mins head start on our leave.

on every flight i've been on, as soon as the plane stops and the fasten seatbelt light goes off, everyone stands up at once to grab their bag, crowd the asile and get off as soon as possible. except this flight, where everyone listened to the flight attentent. i was in the very last row and everyone kept their seats until i got to the front. i got there before they were even ready to open the door. then the flight attendent announced that all the soldiers had made it to the front and everyone stood up at once to grab their bag. but no one thought twice about moving from their seat until all the military personel and gone before them. just thought that was a nice story to share on vets day, and a thank you to all the people who have been so nice.