Honor Our Soldiers
To The Editor:

At the end of August, my wife, my two children and I traveled on vacation South Carolina, traveling through airports in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Savannah. Unlike previous family trips, we noticed huge number of uniformed military personnel at the airports, many of whom seemed to be in transit, presumably either on their way home from or on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan.

These men and women, of all different races, were disproportionately young, some still showing signs of a youthful acne problem. Without their uniforms, one might think they were a bunch of teenagers hanging out at a local mall or group of college kids on spring break.

Their presence was a stark reminder that while many of us spend our time complaining about $3 per gallon gasoline, there are well over 100,000 Americans risking their lives in war zones overseas. While we're driving our cars or flying planes to our vacation destinations, they may be driving armored vehicles over land mined roads, or flying in helicopters being shot at from snipers on rooftops.

Regardless of how one may feel about our nation's involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan, we should not forget to treat these men and women, all volunteers, with the respect and dignity they deserve. It is their job to go where they are told. They do not get to pick and choose and they just can't quit when the job is not to their liking.

We should teach our children to say "thank you" to a service man or woman when they see them on the street. And it only costs a few dollars to buy a group of soldiers a round of drinks at an airport bar as we continue on our way to the beach to swim or to the mountains to ski. They would never ask, but they will appreciate these small signs of respect.

Like me, many people have not chosen to serve in the military, but we should be grateful to those who do. Sincerely, Bill Viscovich Whitestone