Veterans

Thanks for all the kudo's guys! It really makes a difference to us vets, knowing that there are those out there who stand behind us.

I had a chance to 'give back' something to one of the local schools this past week. While serving in Iraq back in 2003, one of the local middle schools made a huge banner. The kids put their multi-colored hand prints all over this banner then signed their names underneath. They sent it to me in Iraq where I was supporting the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit. To make a long story short, I managed to get a U.S. flag flown in the city of Mosul on my last tour there and one of the 25th Infantry Division's generals signed the "Certificate of Authenticity" that the flag had indeed been flown in Iraq, if only for one day.

I presented that flag to the school this past week when they had their Veteran's Day assembly. The assistant superindentant was there as well and gave the kids a reminder of what he faced as a Vietnam era veteran when passing through the airports and being out in public in uniform. Our stories were vastly different, but the kids got the point about the need to support our veterans. I presented the flag to the ass't superintendant as my way of saying "thank you" to the school and the town for supporting us "over there".

For once, the old adage of "what goes around, comes around" meant something good for a change.