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There is something unique about the experience of a soldier coming home. To each time and place I believe there must be something about how they are received that says a lot about the times we live in, our Zeitgeist. A soldier coming home in America is a unique experience in this world. I know that this is a similar feeling to what WWI and WWII veterans felt. Just as in those days there are crowds cheering, loved ones waiting, and invariably John Phillip Sousa blaring in the background; the hallmarks of coming home in America.

This month I came home to Dallas, where my wife works and I occasionally visit, for my two week R&R leave from Iraq. On both of my R&Rs, 1st and 2nd tours, I was met by the welcoming people of Dallas clapping and cheering as we moved down the breeze way. I figured that every city was this receptive. Now I have heard that my assumption was naïve. In Atlanta, soldiers come and go and no one cares. In west coast cities some soldiers are occasionally scoffed at. I guess it can never be as bad as the Vietnam vets had it. As I passed the customs check I met the rows of veterans clapping. Vietnam vets mostly but a wide variety of veterans there to greet and thank soldiers. After them I saw my wife Paula and a mob of my friends from my Sunday School class, their children, a former Army buddy, and other family members. What an experience! No matter how many deployments and reunions it is still wonderful to finally see everyone and breath the free air of home. During the reunion I shed all my worries like a giant weight suddenly lifted from my chest. It is like being released from prison without the stigma of being a criminal.

What makes it all the more worth it are the children brought by their parents. Obviously, some came for me. Some volunteered with the USO. Others like our friends, K and B, made their kids hand out candy to the returning soldiers. I think this is wonderful, especially since I got my share of the sweets. In doing this K +B were teaching these children about the responsibility society has to its veterans. Another good friend brought her three girls to meet me. The oldest Charlotte, a very grown up 5, made me a sign, welcoming me home. I thought about this as I stood there. I flashed back to when I was a boy of 12 at that same airport, and I welcomed home my older brother from the first Gulf War. Now I was in his place, and both memories would last me a life time. I immediately thought that I should thank all of the kids there to meet me almost as if I was trying to brand their minds with the memory of that moment. So that maybe they wouldn’t forget their veterans like so many of the baby-boomer generation had. For the small babies it may be a passing thought when their parents relate taking them to meet the soldiers returning from war when they were little. Little Charlotte will remember it! As will my friends and family. For me these moments are like two way streets of gratitude. 1.6 million have served in this conflict out of 300 million people in the US. Most Americans don’t even know a veteran of the Global War On Terror. For many Americans, this is a window into the American Experience.

Incidentally, I joined the American Legion in my hometown of Morton, Texas while on leave. The commander, a former platoon leader in Vietnam, spoke about preventing what happened to him and the veterans of his time. Every time I have come home I’ve been met by the Vietnam veterans all working to prevent the same tragedy of ingratitude and silence. In Dallas that day I thanked the Vietnam guys for giving me the home coming they never had. I’m proud of Dallas, not just for me, but for the response they always give to the soldiers on their way home. Many of my friends who welcomed me have vastly different political opinions of the war than I but that didn’t stop them from welcoming me and all the soldiers home; that’s Patriotism. That’s the singularity of the American experience.