"A Flight Delay"
 

I received this in an email from a friend. It had been passed to many people, and I thought it might be appropriate to mention it here. Don't know who wrote it, but....

I sat in my seat of the Boeing 767 waiting for everyone to hurry and stow
their carry-ons and grab a seat so we could start what I was sure to be a
long , uneventful flight home. With the huge capacity and slow moving people
taking their time to stuff luggage far too big for the overhead and never
paying much attention to holding up the growing line behind them, I simply shook
my head knowing that this flight was not starting out very well. I was
anxious to get home to see my loved ones so I was focused on "my" issues and
just felt like standing up and yelling for some of these clowns to
get their act together. I knew I couldn't say a word so I just thumbed thru
the "Sky Mall" magazine from the seat pocket in front of me. You know it's
really getting rough when you resort to the over priced, useless sky mall
crap to break the monotony. With everyone finally seated, we just sat there
with the cabin door open and no one in any hurry to get us going although we
were well past the scheduled take off time. No wonder
the airline industry is in trouble I told myself.

Just then, the attendant came on the intercom to inform us all that we were
being delayed. The entire plane let out a collective groan. She resumed
speaking to say "We are holding the aircraft for some very special people who
are on their way to the plane and the delay shouldn't be more than 5 minutes.
The word came after waiting six times as long as we were promised that "I"
was finally going to be on my way home. Why the hoopla over "these" folks? I
was expecting some celebrity or sport figure to be the reason for the hold
up.........Just get their butts in a seat and lets hit the gas I thought.

The attendant came back on the speaker to announce in a loud and excited
voice that we were being joined by several U. S. Marines returning home from
Iraq!!! Just as they walked on board, the entire plane erupted into applause.
The men were a bit taken by surprise by the 340 people cheering for them as
they searched for their seats. They were having their hands shook and
touched by almost everyone who was within an arm's distance of them as they
passed down the aisle. One elderly woman kissed the hand of one of the Marines as
he passed by her. The applause, whistles and cheering didn't stop for a
long time.

When we were finally airborne, "I" was not the only civilian checking his
conscience as to the delays in "me" getting home, finding my easy chair, a
cold beverage and the remote in my hand. These men had done for all of us and
I had been complaining silently about "me" and "my" issues. I took for
granted the everyday freedoms I enjoy and the conveniences of the American way of
life I took for granted others paid the price for my ability to moan and
complain about a few minutes delay to "me" those Heroes going home to their
loved ones. I attempted to get my selfish outlook back in order and minutes
before we landed I suggested to the attendant that she announce over the
speaker a request for everyone to remain in their seats until our hero's were
allowed to gather their things and be first off the plane. The cheers and
applause continued until the last Marine stepped off and we all rose to go about
ou r too often taken for granted everyday freedoms......... I felt proud of
them. I felt it an honor and a privilege to be among the first to welcome
them home and say Thank You for a job well done. I vowed that I will never
forget that flight nor the lesson learned. I can't say it enough, THANK YOU to
those Veterans and active servicemen and women who may read this and a
prayer for those who cannot because they are no longer with us.

GOD BLESS AMERICA! WELCOME HOME! AND THANKS FOR A JOB WELL DONE !!!!!
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Moderators, feel free to move or delete, if I've put this in the wrong forum, but "Omni" says "all things not travel related", so I put it here.

bj-21.

Not the best choice of forum maybe but what can you say, god bless america... I guess the people in Iraq appreciate their freedom aswell. Now they get to choose which bomb-shelter to use.

Great! Thanks, PappaG! You take a perfectly good thread and you ruin it by posting your political nonsense. Let's all not give into PappaG and keep our political opinions aside.

blackjack-21
Thank you so much for your post!

I don't see how this was a perfectly good thread. But please, let us all stop this discussion as I don't believe that this thread belongs in this forum.

It's certainly a relief and a blessing to know that God is, as always, on our side.

Thank you, Blackjack-21, for posting this moving stroy. Do you know what city the plane was flying out of? I doubt it was in the heavily anti-military San Francisco Bay area, where the troops more likely would have been met with uncomfortable silence or scattered boos from the locals on the plane.

Snopes says "research in progress."

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/comehome.asp

A very nice story and even if it turns out not to be true. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

What makes me suspicious is that I have yet to be on a 767 that holds 340 people. That would give anyone cause to get cranky while waiting http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

One of my nearest & dearest (who is also an airline employee) forwarded this to me. I think it's a great story!

I received the same e-mail, but it had "Halliburton Executives" substituted for Marines.

haha

roflmao

How could you say such an insensitive and cynical thing in a time of national crisis?

Everyone knows that the true heroes and winners of the war are the men and women of Schlumberger.

A French company? How dare you! The mere thought of it might give that most valiant of Halliburton Heroes, Dick Cheney, another "episode."