With all the recent publicity around Oakland Airport and it’s shunning of our returning troops (btw – Michelle Malkin has news on changes for layovers from the DOD and Charter Flight Operators…hint – Oakland is out!) we were surprised to learn of some shunning at our own Nashville airport. This however wasn’t from the airport personnel but from the people at the airport. When members of the 1175th TC National Guard of Tullahoma returned for their leave a few weeks back they were discouraged by the reaction of people in the airport. It wasn’t from anything said, it was from people’s actions. The returning troops thought they must have the plague since people were avoiding eye contact, walking around them and generally ignoring that person in the United States military uniform. They weren’t expecting anything but they also weren’t expecting to be shunned by everyone. Some of the members of the group decided for their return trip to Iraq they would travel to Atlanta to catch their flight instead of running into a repeat of their arrival.

However, a friend contacted Patriot Guard to request a send off for Saturday, Oct. 6th. With very short notice PGR pulled together a couple dozen faithful who showed up at the staging area between 3:30 and 4:00 am. We departed for the airport at 4:15 with our surprised troops arriving between 4:45 and 5:30am to give them the send off they deserved. I think we found 8 soldiers to thank for their service and wish them well on their return to Iraq. Between the soldiers and their families it was a most successful mission.

If you have a welcome home or send off for a soldier and you’d like Patriot Guard to participate all you have to do is visit Patriot Guard and click on the Contact Us on the left sidebar. Patriot Guard now has a membership of 115,000!

Technorati Tags: Patriot Guard Riders, 1175th TC National Guard Tullahoma, Support The Troops, Nashville, Tennessee

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