Originally Posted by
uavking
Wow, this thread keeps going lower and lower.
If you think airing one's opinions make things lower, I'm happy to take my share of the blame for it.
Originally Posted by
uavking
By the sounds of it, I guess I shouldn't have bothered putting my hand up in the air 6+ years ago to swear an oath to defend the Constitution (that's right kids, not Bush, not Obama, but the Constitution of the United States of America). Yup, clearly would've been better off getting a business degree and chilling on Wall Street like a few others in my HS class.
Soldiering vs. Wall Street - they both sound about equal to me - you could have gone to Law School to improve your standing though (j/k)
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Originally Posted by
uavking
I stand by my post from earlier today that this small gesture of appreciation was a good move and, ultimately, beneficial to CO's bottom line. Frankly, both sides in here ought to have left politics at the door and debated this move solely on the basis of how it affects a. CO b. the CO customer base, including the joes who got comped.
The politics is a natural progression in this particular argument. There are people who fly several times a week who for years have done the rah-rah- support the troops routine, and will do a lot to recognize them, but my feeling is that even they are beginning to get a bit cheesed off with losing out on upgrades, watching others get free drinks, listening to pep talks, etc. It might currently still be a positive for the customer base for airlines to do a little extra for soldiers, but what about four years from now, when the wars will still be going strong and people will have lost their will?
Originally Posted by
uavking
For that matter, daggone it, it would've been nice for certain participants in this discussion to put themselves in joe's shoes and really consider what this gesture meant to those joes. When I left the ranks to enter the commissioning pipeline, one of my NCOs pointed out that it was a good thing that I had gotten to see how the other half lived. Maybe it'd be useful for those who want to drag in politics, ideals, right/left discourse, whatever, to step back and try to really imagine what it's like to be a joe. I really could care less about one's politics, but believe me, if you want to try to twist all that around into some unfounded beef with joe, that sure as heck fires me up. Alright, off of my soapbox for tonight, hopefully...
I take a flight from the gate adjacent to the Baghdad Express at DFW most Monday afternoons. I know from speaking with the soldiers, and pulling their leg a little, that some love the attention and perks they get while traveling commercially, and have even begun planning their travel around it (almost like Flyertalkers to be honest). However, I see others who just couldn't care less, and I swear I see rolled eyes at some of the antics at the gate - they seem to like the 5'11" blonde gospel singer that shows up occasionally though.