Peace Greeter's

"There was a time in history when our soldiers were not thanked." - VFW Leader

One of the stops on the way home from Afghanistan for R&R was a small airport in Portsmouth New Hampshire. As we walked off the plane, like we had done a couple of times,  was a hallway full of people forming a gauntlet of well wishers from the local community. I walked as always with the confidence of my military experience but this group knew what that meant.

It was small airport but it was packed full of people,  our plane had at least 200 people on it and it seemed that they matched us. Veterans from the local VFE and their families and a local church group with a good group of young children. Of all the people who have greeted me because of me being a soldier and a veterans, the ones I enjoy the most are veterans and children. Veterans because" they know" and children because of their innocent curiosity. The veterans were in front greeting us with a smile and strong handshake while the children were behind them with their hoops,  hollers, and low fives as we walked by.

Didn't know where we were, they told us our stops but I did not commit them to memory. However, now I was interested,  who were these people serving us pizza and snacks, treating returning soldiers with this much respect. They even knew how the Army had changed,  including the deployment of Army Civilians and asking us questions with genuine interest.

After milling around for a short time, eating pizza and chatting with a very young WWII veteran, who personally gave me a "star for our troop" (safe.mn/7fWc) ,  we then moved to a large hall were we lined up for pictures, speeches and singing from the children. The VFW leader spoke: we began doing this in 2005, when a planes with soldiers began departing our country,  we did not want soldiers to leave alone or arrive alone so we began meeting them to honor, respect,  and love them.

The VFW leader then handed the mike to the pastor who was there with the children's group. He said a prayer and then introduced the children,  the "Peace Greeter's". The name struck me so I committed it to memory. Turns out that Portsmouth New Hampshire was the home of the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease that use to be a combined military civilian Airforce Base before the base was closed. Pease Air Force Base was closed in the early 90's. The name play was intriguing to me when the greeter's were announced.

We were then told the plane was ready and that we had to leave.  It seemed too fast but the group of "Peace Greeter's"  were ready,  as we filed out the door we went through another gauntlet of well wishers - they gave us a plastic grocery bags and as we went by stations maned with who I speculate were the veterans wife's, they put gifts in them for our trip,  various candies and nicknames. The thing that touched me the most however was the flag star. On the back it reads: "I am part of our American flag that has flown over a home in the U.S.A. I can no longer fly. The sun and winds have caused me to become tattered and torn. Please carry me as a reminder that you are not forgotten." The entire experience was definitely "Good Stuff".