Talking with my wife tonight back in Florida. A dear friend of ours just got back from Afghanistan a few days ago. At the church dinner tonight, he said, “Come with me to the car.”
He gave her (us) a US flag with an accompanying certificate which read:
"The accompanying U.S. flag was proudly flown during a Special Operations mission Feb. xx, 2006 on an AC-130 Spectre Gunship (xxx-xxxth <<Gunship Name>>) over Afghanistan.
Presented to H. and J. LiveOnAPlane from ______.
(Gunship logo:____________)
OMG.Wifey didn’t know what the heck to do. Guy is over there trying to survive, and what does he think of? Us! Us?
I have never in my life been so honored. We both needed a lift at this point, but never thought we’d get something like this.
I don’t know what else to say, but my wife and I both had a good cry. I don’t know why he did this, but this flag and cert is going UP ON THE WALL…
Sorry for the emotion. I just feel really small right now…but I’ve never felt so big.
<<Some details have of course been not written in my post, for security reasons, hope you understand.>>
Closest we ever did was get people flags flown over different boats mrAru served on. In germany there is a flag that was flown over the USS Spadefish on its last northern run, when it was surfaced in the extreme north icepack area, with a port call in Bremerhaven =) [it went to a buddy of mine in the german army]
Note: This is not intended as a flame, but it’s not an uplifting comment. If you only want nice and encouraging replies, please skip this rant.
[spoiler]On one hand: Your friend was out there risking his life and he thought to bring you guys a gift? That is really special (not being sarcastic) and you’re lucky to have a friend like that. I mean that.
On the other hand, this is a flag that flew over Afghanistan of all places. I’d be saddened to have one. This ain’t Pearl Harbor or Normandy we’re talking about, it’s Afghanistan – one of the countries we invaded for no good reason. I respect that your friend was over there despite all the risks, and this is not a complaint against him or you. It’s just that we attacked and shelled the shit out of a country from these very same gunships because we needed a scapegoat for 9/11. Whether that’s something to be legitimately proud or whether it’s blind patriotism, well, that’s up to you to decide. But ultimately, perhaps our willingness to overlook the mistakes we make in favor of honoring our soldiers feeds a vicious cycle that breeds more ill-reasoned military actions – and thus more unnecessary deaths for those very soldiers.[/spoiler]
That is truly inspiring and he is a very good friend indeed. I skipped the spoiler box above and just wanted to say I can really appreciate the magnatude of this gift. Congrats.
Oh, and thank him for us for what he did over there.
I shall do so when I get home, gratefully. And, I love your suggestion:
We didn’t think of that, but it is excellent, and would make a good acoompanyment to the flag and plaque. Thanks for the idea!
Why, thank you. With you kind permission, I will be sure to do just that when I get home a week from now. …He does have that effect on people…salt of the earth.
P.S. I meant to reply to sj2 earlier:
Naw, I got weepy, too, and since I’m a guy, I’m reasonable sure I’m not pregnant! But hey, congrats to to you, how very special a time!
I will also forward the other kind things others have said earlier. This ain’t about me, it was about a very special gift, and I will definitely share.
The way you describe this man leads me to believe that he would do what he judged to be the right thing even if no one ever knew about it.
The gratitude and appreciation of people like you, though, goes a long way toward making the incredibly hard life of a soldier/sailor/airman/marine bearable.
I really hope that you let him see every ounce of how emotional this made you. That’s a strong light to temper some very dark days in the field.