Watcher's blog: "hmmm"

Last  week I was in Atlanta , Georgia attending  a conference. While I was in the airport,  returning home, I heard several people behind me  beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately  turned around and witnessed one of the greatest  acts of patriotism I have ever  seen.

Moving through the terminal  was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began  heading to their gate, everyone (well almost  everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their  hands waving and cheering.


When  I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them,  being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm  not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded American  who still loves this country and supports our  troops and their families.

Of  course I immediately stopped and began clapping  for these young unsung heroes who are putting  their lives on the line everyday for us so we  can go to school, work and home without fear or  reprisal.


Just  when I thought I could not be more proud of my  country or of our service men and women, a young  girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to  one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and  said 'hi.'

The  little girl then asked him if he would give  something to her daddy for  her.


The  young soldier, who didn't look any older than  maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did  she want to give to her Daddy. Then suddenly the  little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier,  gave him the biggest hug she could muster and  then kissed him on the cheek.

The  mother of the little girl, who said her  daughter's name was Courtney, told the young  soldier that her husband was a Marine and had  been in  Iraq for 11  months now. As the mom was explaining how much  her daughter Courtney missed her father, the  young soldier began to tear  up.


When  this temporarily single mom was done explaining  her situation, all of the soldiers huddled  together for a brief second. Then one of the  other servicemen pulled out a military-looking  walkie-talkie. They started playing with the  device and talking back and forth on  it.

After  about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier  walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said  this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told  me to give this to you.' He then hugged this  little girl that he had just met and gave her a  kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying 'your  daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more  than anything and he is coming home very  soon.'

The mom at this point was crying  almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier  stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her  mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away  from this entire event.


As  the soldiers began to leave, heading towards  their gate, people resumed their applause As I  stood there applauding and looked around, there  were very few dry eyes, including my own. That  young soldier in one last act of selflessness,  turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a  tear rolling down his cheek.

We  need to remember everyday all of our soldiers  and their families and thank God for them and  their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's  good to be an American.