I was listening to this nationally syndicated talk show host Glenn Beck about a year ago and he was talking about thanking service men and women when you see them at airports (cause you always see a bunch it seems when you travel).
Well I took his advice and started doing thanking the men and women for their service when I see them in airports. I swear I am always suprised at their response. Its ALWAYS like a suprised and happy “thank you sir for your support”.
anyway… give it a shot. I think more of our troops need to know they have our support.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2416 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah Shoe, I tend to do that also. I mean, these people have volunteered for this work, so deserve a smile, a nice comment or a drink when you see them in a bar
Shoe-
Strong showing, dude. I agree 100%.
Thanks so much for posting this. My daughter and I were going through Atlanta airport on the way to Ecuador and saw so many servicemen and women at the international gates. It finally “hit” me what protecting our nation really meant. I was very touched and offered up pray for them, but it never occured to me to go talk with them and tell them thanks for their bravery.
Yep. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years and always get a warm response.
What exact words do you use to thank them?
It’s their job, they get paid for it.. nobody would thank a soldier for doing his job here.
Nice thing to do anyway
Couldn’t agree with you more.
By the way, is their a reason you don’t put a digg link on your story footer?
Over the past few years I given a few of these guys upgrades to first class. When you travel enough you get tons of free upgrades.
Does not cost me anything and they are blown away.
I’m with you on this one, I completely agree. I do it already and it’s really rewarding, on both sides of it. My dad was in the service along with a lot of my relatives, so it really does make a difference. It shows they are appreciated.
Thanks for your support. My son is a sargent in the army. He just volunteered for the special forces and will start his training in feb. We are very proud.
Of all your great advise you have given, this is the best.
thank you.
former navy
As a parent of a serviceman I can tell you that you can’t support the people in uniform too much.
They do the dirty work that so many of us are not prepared to even think about.
I personally don’t believe guns should be supported in any way, shape or form… and I would NEVER congratulate a “serviceman” – if anything I think they should detest their job as much as possible and quit while they can still save their own life… What’s the point of paying people to stand there with BIGGER guns to protect you… when most of the money to pay them is coming from the sale of guns, weapons and killing in the first place?
Agree 100% Shoe, they risk their tails for us.
I try to carry an extra overseas phone card with me, its always nice to make a soldiers day by giving it to them.
As a former Marine my self I can tell you that receiving thanks like that can make a service member’s day. Thanks for doing it.
Good one, Shoe. Very important. I am strongly against the war but I also believe we need to thank the members of the military for risking their lives. Without a military we would live in a very dangerous country indeed.
I agree. That is the best thing. They deserve that for sure.
Okay, then. Next time you see a serviceman with a tickle stick you’ll say hello to them for me will you?
Great advice.
These men and women are risking their lives to protect our freedom.
yep, this is good advice….alot of these guys go through hell to provide the freedom that most take for granted…
What great additions to Shoe’s great post! I never thought of the phone card thing or the upgrades. You guys make me proud to be an American. It’s okay to be anti-war but NEVER anti-soldier. We are a nation today because our grandfathers stepped up 50+ years ago. Enjoy your freedom. I do. It DOES come with a price.
That No Guns comment is idiotic. How many of us have seen a marine traveling home with a gun? NONE.
Lol.. because your greatgrandfathers stepped up and crushed an innocent empire of harmless indians… raped their women, land, and then claimed it as their own?
Everyone just stop the fighting now…
Thiis is great. I was in the Military for 4 years and I had exactly 1 person do that. It happened when I was in a particularly bad mood and made my day.
Hmm, I may be missing something here, but these people are up to killing or harming some other people which actually at their part did no harm to them (some of them being absolutely innocent). Furthermore, the military guys volunteer to help the political leaders spread force.
Not to be mean here, but as there is a saying, fighting for peace is just like f*cking for virginity…
No Guns, your just a baby seal waiting to clubbed in the head.
When radical islam brings WWIII to every nation, I hope you are on the front lines. Then, maybe you can try to tell them to stop fighting. lol.
I prefer to be able to shoot back.
At least that way I stand a fighting chance.
If I can shoot back with more punch and precision, maybe I’ll only have to defend myself once.
Weapons will always be around. It’s all about the people
I think there’s some people taking this way out of context and making this political when Jeremy’s statement was just to show appreciation towards someone. I think some people are venting in the wrong place. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I respect them, but there is a time and place for everything…we all have to share this world.
In the UK usually it is the very poor white and uneducated who with little choice join the Army .
Is it the same in the States?
I agree…this is taken out of context. I’m VERY much against Bush’s personal war in the middle-east…but I never direct this toward our men and women in the service. Because of everything that’s taken place over the last several years, they are caught in the line of fire and deserve our support…both ending the wars and getting them home to their families.
That was always a very nice and suprising thing to hear when I was in uniform. Just a simple “hello how are you ?” really goes a long ways for a service man or women. Knowing that someone recognized you as person and not some cog in a military machine makes you feel a lot better when your about to be away from your family for 6 monthes to a year.
Do you think some 18 year old that wants to learn to fly planes or fix radios is thinking about all this geopolitical nonsense? The world is not simply black and white.
Some part of what you say may be true but why bitch about it now? It happened so get over it. The Indians are now being compensated for it – and not all white men miss-treated the Indian back then.
The strong will always win out. If everyone had your attitude then we would all be speaking germen as Hitler would have just atom bombed the USA. Only unlike we did for Japan – “we rebuilt their country and gave it back to them” Hitler would have killed every parson in north America who did not agree with him as he did the Jews.
Bottom line is it is a tough world. Some lose and the strong win but laying down all arms will only result in our losing what we have. Maybe that is fine to you but not with me.
Learn to love America and go out and work for good, put your ass to work for what you believe and quit whining about the past. What a loser.
It is not bush’s personal war idiot. What do you fill your car up with? corn syrup? Of course the war is about keeping a stable flow of oil.
Without oil this country’s economy would plunge into the toilet. Maybe that is what you want but not me. Bush has a hard job. Maybe you are stupid enough to think you could do better? Bush/Kerry? Bush’s grades were higher in school but you morons think Kerry would have done better?
Sure he would have joined the f’king cheese eating surrender monkey French bastards and kissed up to every one of the European unions whims.
Bush is intelligent he just does not have a polished public speaking style so people belittle him for this. Hell I would not do any better before the limelight and neither would you so climb off bush’s ass because you are not qualified you f’kn pea brain.
What a train wreck of a post. I am laughing my ass off at the comments.
right; thanks for killing people abroad for no reason (Iraq != 911); making us all LESS safe….
I think it is important to separate the men and women in service from administration policies. You could thank those in the service for doing what they do without agreeing with how they are being deployed/used.
They deserver respect no matter what Bush does.
Phone cards and a beer was what made my day.
Some people go in the service because they believe in what the gov is doing. Some go in because they have no other options which will provide benefits. Please let us remember this is a volunteer military. They deserve a thank you even if you disagree with the current Gov leadership.
closing comments
Man….I can’t believe you listen to glen beck. That guy is a total and utter douchebag neocon moron.
Yeah. I find that it’s always a great idea to let conscienceless mercenary automatons know that they have our respect and support.
Thanks Shoe for your support. Whenever one runs into someone who is anti-military, typically we just walk away because freedom of speech is one of the values we fight to uphold. Keep up the great work. Signed up for your new course and can’t wait to check it out!
Cheers,
James