Texas - DFW to close as a US Military R&R Leave Gateway

DFW to close as a US Military R&R Leave Gateway (http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/23/3681577/soldier-stopovers-at-dfw-airport.html)

I know many who passed through DFW on their way home on leave.

The R&R gateway in ATL will remain open.

DFW to close as a US Military R&R Leave Gateway (http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/23/3681577/soldier-stopovers-at-dfw-airport.html)

I know many who passed through DFW on their way home on leave.

The R&R gateway in ATL will remain open.

Kind of sad for those of us who watched them come through DFW. They walk overhead in a glassed area that you can see in terminal D. People would always cheer, wave and clap for them in a show of pride and gratitude for their service. DFW also had a hug with cookie and refreshments greeting set up for the troops when they got off the plane. My company has sent a group of volunteers over multiple times a month to go greet them when they arrived. Once they would disburse through the terminals you would see people sending over beers or picking up tabs at restaurants. We will definitely miss their presence at DFW.

Especially poignant to me....

My first reaction was always "What command allowed all these troops to travel in "Utilities" (that's BDUs to you folks of current generations, "Fatigues" to old soldiers.).

Then I saw Colonels, Generals and Admirals going around in'em, and we couldn't have had dinner in the wardroom so attired.

More seriously and poignantly, there's the memory of returning through SFO from reserve training in the Bay Area in 1971, and being taked by the assorted denizens hanging out there of returning from SEA. I had passed through SFO 6 years before, actually returning from SEA, but it was a sort of "Neutral Site" back then, no applause but no insults. By '71, it was comparable to mixing a Jane Fonda appearance with the crowd from the unlocked ward as a large institution for the substantially deranged and quaintly dressed.

**"SEA", not Seattle, but "Southeast Asia"

I've never forgotten that, nor wanted any service(wo)man to experience it.

DFW to close as a US Military R&R Leave Gateway (http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/23/3681577/soldier-stopovers-at-dfw-airport.html)

I know many who passed through DFW on their way home on leave.

The R&R gateway in ATL will remain open.

The USO will still be on hand to offer help, computer use, etc.