Monday, May 30, 2011

Army Guys

Will has always been fascinated by people in uniform...

Waving to the Washtenaw County Sheriff


Getting a little too close to an Ann Arbor police officer and his "moca-cycle"


...especially military service members, who he calls "army guys" and "army guy girls".

Last weekend I flew with the kids (by myself, but that's a story for another time) to Wisconsin, and then yesterday I flew with them back to College Station. On both journeys we had layovers in Dallas, which, as it turns out, seems to be a "hub" for service member travel. I've often seen military service members in airports, but in Dallas we saw HUNDREDS of individual service members as well as entire companies traveling, as best I can guess, to serve our country overseas. Will was in awe, and for every single service member we walked past, he said "Look Mama! An army guy!". (Yes, this meant that when we walked by an entire company he said "Look Mama! An army guy! And another army guy! And an army guy girl!" and on, and on, and on...)

Some of these service members were talking and laughing with their comrades; others were sitting quietly by themselves, no doubt thinking about the travel and missions ahead as well as the friends and family behind. Eventually Will asked me why there were so many army guys at the airport, and so while we waiting for our final flight to take off we had an age-appropriate discussion about why our country has a military and what the members of the military do for their jobs. Will decided that the next time he saw an army guy he would tell him "thank you for keeping our country - and our plane (there was a service member on our plane) - safe".

On this Memorial Day, let us all follow the lead of my wise four-year-old and thank a service member for keeping us and our country safe.

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