Sep 16 2006
Jeremy Schoemaker

Thanking Military People At Airports For Their Service

By Jeremy Schoemaker 45 comments »

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.

  1. Chris said on September 16th, 2006 at 7:39 am

    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 :)

  2. Jay Kay said on September 16th, 2006 at 7:48 am

    Shoe-

    Strong showing, dude. I agree 100%.

  3. Nicole said on September 16th, 2006 at 8:55 am

    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.

  4. Tony Spencer said on September 16th, 2006 at 9:12 am

    Yep. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years and always get a warm response.

  5. garg said on September 16th, 2006 at 9:37 am

    What exact words do you use to thank them?

  6. Nils said on September 16th, 2006 at 10:52 am

    It’s their job, they get paid for it.. nobody would thank a soldier for doing his job here.
    Nice thing to do anyway

  7. JLowry said on September 16th, 2006 at 11:45 am

    Couldn’t agree with you more.

    By the way, is their a reason you don’t put a digg link on your story footer?

  8. Aaron Shear said on September 16th, 2006 at 12:00 pm

    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.

  9. Jonathan said on September 16th, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    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.

  10. mrrbobs_free_dating said on September 16th, 2006 at 12:46 pm

    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.

  11. john h said on September 16th, 2006 at 1:27 pm

    Of all your great advise you have given, this is the best.
    thank you.
    former navy

  12. Stuart said on September 16th, 2006 at 2:07 pm

    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.

  13. NO GUNS said on September 16th, 2006 at 2:27 pm

    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?

  14. SteveM said on September 16th, 2006 at 6:11 pm

    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.

  15. Ian Anderson said on September 16th, 2006 at 6:18 pm

    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.

  16. Jack said on September 16th, 2006 at 6:58 pm

    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.

  17. Mark said on September 16th, 2006 at 7:28 pm

    I agree. That is the best thing. They deserve that for sure.

  18. Chris Andrews said on September 17th, 2006 at 1:51 am

    Okay, then. Next time you see a serviceman with a tickle stick you’ll say hello to them for me will you?

  19. Theo said on September 17th, 2006 at 3:43 am

    Great advice.

    These men and women are risking their lives to protect our freedom.

  20. Mattboy said on September 17th, 2006 at 5:13 am

    yep, this is good advice….alot of these guys go through hell to provide the freedom that most take for granted…

  21. Joyce said on September 17th, 2006 at 7:19 am

    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.

  22. Aaron Shear said on September 17th, 2006 at 10:27 am

    That No Guns comment is idiotic. How many of us have seen a marine traveling home with a gun? NONE.

  23. NO GUNS said on September 17th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

    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…

  24. Think said on September 17th, 2006 at 2:20 pm

    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.

  25. piculum said on September 17th, 2006 at 2:27 pm

    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…

  26. capitalistpig said on September 17th, 2006 at 7:45 pm

    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.

  27. John Loch said on September 17th, 2006 at 7:50 pm

    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 :)

  28. Andrea said on September 17th, 2006 at 9:30 pm

    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.

  29. flypitcher said on September 18th, 2006 at 7:00 am

    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?

  30. D. Campbell said on September 18th, 2006 at 9:00 am

    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.

  31. webprofessor said on September 18th, 2006 at 10:26 am

    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.

  32. JeffPosaka said on September 18th, 2006 at 4:19 pm

    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.

  33. mrrbobs_free_dating said on September 18th, 2006 at 7:15 pm

    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.

  34. mrrbobs_free_dating said on September 18th, 2006 at 7:28 pm

    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.

  35. webprofessor said on September 18th, 2006 at 11:43 pm

    What a train wreck of a post. I am laughing my ass off at the comments.

  36. LNW said on September 20th, 2006 at 12:02 pm

    right; thanks for killing people abroad for no reason (Iraq != 911); making us all LESS safe….

  37. littleman said on September 20th, 2006 at 5:51 pm

    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.

  38. SteveM said on September 21st, 2006 at 7:55 pm

    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.

  39. ShoeMoney said on September 22nd, 2006 at 11:43 am

    closing comments

  40. Politics » Blog Archive » Airport Chatter said on September 19th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

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  42. Shoemoney Roast said on September 20th, 2006 at 1:48 pm

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  43. [...] am a huge supporter of all our troops. I have written a post in the past about going up and thanking our military at airports and I encourage you all to do so if you feel the [...]

  44. [...] am a huge supporter of all our troops. I have written a post in the past about going up and thanking our military at airports and I encourage you all to do so if you feel the [...]

  45. [...] am a huge supporter of all our troops. I have written a post in the past about going up and thanking our military at airports and I encourage you all to do so if you feel the [...]