Kevin McCullough, November 28, 2004

Thanksgiving eve for me was an excruciatingly long day. Nonetheless I am more thankful than ever for those who can never be told enough how much they are appreciated.

5:10am - I'm in line at the Starbucks coffee kiosk at Newark Liberty airport. The two men in front of me are both uniformed pilots for the airlines.

"Coming or going," I say to the one directly in front of me.

"Just getting started," said the man who had to be in his late fifties.

"Gonna get your (flight) leg out of the way so that you can be home for the holiday," I asked.

"Nope - by the middle of Thanksgiving day I'll be in route back to Florida from South America," replied the pilot.

"Oh man - it must be hard to be away from those you love," I said with genuine empathy as I realized I would be with family and those I cherish most.

"Not on your life son;" came the intriguing reply. Before he continued, "Being away will be hard for sure, but my thoughts are with my oldest son who is today securing parts of Fallujah - at least I'm not facing grenade shrapnel from guys who play dead. No, what I will do is nothing compared to that."

8:30pm - Waiting for my son's flight to arrive from Chicago at DFW airport in Dallas.

I circle past gate B-29 twice looking for an easy parking spot to run in and meet my son's flight. Gathered just outside the gate are 7 guys averaging in age from 19-42, dressed in fatigues and US ARMY emblazoned on the breast pocket. As I pull into the closest spot I can find I begin making my way to the doorway where the soldiers are gathered.

As I approach one of them is on his cell phone, comforting some woman in his life. I am not sure of who - it is a distraught mother, girlfriend, perhaps even wife. The details of what I hear I can not pass on - but the tone of his voice is what stood out. Even though he himself can be no older than 20 years of age, his calm, soothing reassurances seem to have little effect on the person on the other end of the phone.

What emotions run through his heart - and more importantly - his loved one on the other end?

I pass the soldier with the phone and now find myself approaching the other six huddled near the doorway, sharing some cigarettes and having a laugh.

"Where you boys headed," I ask hoping to hear that they were actually on their way home from duty.

"These two," says the oldest of the group, "are headed to Afghanistan. The four of us are headed to Baghdad."

I stopped to shake each of their hands.

"I'm sorry that it means that you will be away from your family and friends on Thanksgiving," I reply.

"We're not," piped up one of the guys headed to Baghdad. "We've got an important job, and God willing this will allow us to spend a lot of Thanksgivings with our families in the future!"

I finished shaking the hand of each man.

"Thanks for what you are doing," I say to them. "I know that in this country a lot of politicians have made it a point to criticize both the people and the mission in the War on Terror. But there are millions more of us that support you and pray for you every single day."

"We feel it," said the oldest guy.

8:45pm - Still waiting for the Chicago flight to arrive, I flip on the Hugh Hewitt Show on AM 660 KSKY.

"Let me tell you why I love these guys..." starts Hugh from where I turn on the show.

He then proceeds to read a true account of a Corporal Yeager. It is a nephew or grandson or some such relative of the celebrated military pilot Chuck Yeager. The corporal had been involved in recent raids in Iraq. As he and his unit were fighting to secure a building they approach a particular unit within that building. Yeager's buddy enters the room first by busting down the door. He is met with rapid gunfire. Cpl. Yeager following behind him sees the danger he is in pulls out a grenade and tosses it into the room filled with insurgents and weapons. Yeager then dives into the room to help retrieve his wounded colleague. The insurgents inside throw the grenade back to Yeager who returns the favor one more time. BOOM! Yeager pulls another grenade and sends it into the crowd of mass insurgents, retrieves his buddy and makes it back to safety.

I sit stunned at the reality of what our bravest and most honorable will face this holiday weekend. I turn off the radio to head back into the airport terminal one last time.

This day has tried my patience, countless delays, repeated trips to and from airports and many gallons of gas used in the process.

But I have seen nothing this day that has taken me far from the ones I love. These faithful ones have. They are playing chicken with insurgents and live grenades - all so that they can accomplish their mission, rescue their fellow soldiers, and protect America from the evil of the insurgents that seek to kill us all.

I did not need Turkey, football, or even a comfortable bed - to be able to express lasting Thanksgiving to GOD for what these souls are doing to keep my family and I safe tonight.

GOD Bless them everyone!

Kevin McCullough is heard daily in New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware on AM 570 WMCA and AM 970 WWDJ from 1-4pm.

Copyright © 2004 Kevin McCullough