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February 12, 2004
Thursday night in Columbia, South Carolina
In Columbia, South Carolina, all the restaurants in town have people waiting for tables every Thursday night.
No, it's not 'Maid's Night Out' as Thursdays were called in wealthy parts of suburban St. Louis, Missouri when I was growing up.
These patient people are celebrating the graduation of their son or daughter from Basic Training at Ft. Jackson. The young graduates look great in their (I'm not sure if this is the correct term, John, please correct me) dress Greens? The young men's hair is very short, and the young women discuss their weight loss (not that many were overweight before Basic).
The dads are proud. the moms proud but a little worried, and the girlfriends are frantic. Interestingly, not very many of the women have boyfriends who show up for graduation dinners.
These young Americans have not been tricked into enlisting in the Army - despite what jerks like Michael Moore may say. They have joined because they want to be soldiers. Many of them will get valuable training that can translate into good civilian jobs when their enlistments are up.
These kids mostly grew up in the South and the Midwest. They are patriotic. They know right from wrong. Very rarely do I see any from the Northeast or from the West Coast. I wonder why?
On Fridays, when I fly home, it seems like half the people on the plane are new soldiers. They are in uniform and on their way to AIT (advanced individual training). I often sit next to one of these great kids on the flight to Atlanta (or Dallas, depending on what my routing is). Every one of them has been respectful, polite and very proud that they are serving their country.
Several of them have told me that they can't wait to go to Iraq. They want to be soldiers - they want to protect the USA - they want to make the world a better place, even if they risk their lives to do so.
I am proud of all of them. My prayers go with them and their families. They are our future. May God go with them.
Posted by Beth at February 12, 2004 06:49 PM