A warrior's heart

  • Published
  • By Col. A.J. Stewart
  • 71st Flying Training Wing commander
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFPN) --  The letter read: We arrived at the Vance gate about 1 p.m. The guard at the gate walked up to the car as I stopped. Dad was sitting on the far side of the backseat. I told the airman my father was retired military and passed him dad's military ID. The airman took the ID read it and raised a salute. Looking at my dad directly and intently he said, "United States Marine Corps (hoo-rah) sir!" and the moment was over. No one in the car, not even my dad, had noticed anything except we had been saluted onto the base.

Here's what I saw: My frail and failing father in the backseat. A young, strong and proudly patriotic airman at the base gate. The ID passed to this young airman. He snapped to attention with a crisp salute and in one moment he gave recognition to the meaning behind that ID and the years of service it represented: "United States Marine Corps!" and then slightly under his breath, respectfully but conspiratorially -- a brother in arms, he gave the low guttural, "Hoo-rah," then the louder, "Sir!" This airman did not see a frail old man, he saw an old warrior and paid due respect. I was moved.

Senior Airman Michael Reed, 71st Security Forces Squadron, changed a father and daughter's lives with a simple act of kindness, respect and heart. From a young warrior to an old one, a sharp salute and "hoo rah" to an 84-year old retired Marine stirred the pride within the retired warrior, and in his daughter. She was so moved that she wrote to the folks at the Pentagon the letter that eventually made its way to my desk.

I asked Airman Reed why he paid such attention to one elderly gentleman. He replied his dad also had been a Marine, and that seeing the man's military ID card stirred something in him, too. He remembered his dad's war stories he had heard as a kid, so he rendered the sharpest salute and honored the man with the Marine Corps yell. A simple act, but one of the best stories I've heard. Thanks Airman Reed. You have the heart of a warrior.

This simple also reminds me of our warriors engaged in combat in Iraq (and all over the globe). What an amazing display of heart-- whether in Pfc. Jessica Lynch, cut off and surrounded in enemy territory, fighting tooth and nail until her last round of ammo was spent, but never giving up; or our amazing ground troops, an irresistible force that marched 350 miles to take on and defeat a fanatical enemy on his home turf; or the amazing Air Force airmen who have sustained more than 33,000 sorties (in about three weeks) of bombs on target, cargo delivered, jets refueled or vigilant surveillance and intelligence.

Here's the really special part -- while our troops are devastatingly lethal, with the same heart, we watched as they were just as likely to share their water with thirsty people, or pass out portions of their own rations to a starving man, hug a frightened child. No subjugation, no occupation, no brutality, only joy at seeing an oppressed peoples' reaction to their first taste of freedom.

The world is witnessing first hand, live on television, the hearts of American warriors -- and the spirit and pride only displayed by magnificent young men and women who are volunteers in the fight for the cause of freedom. It's all about heart. I'm proud just to be associated with them. (Courtesy of 17th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs)