We had a very full week-end with our son, daughter in law and two wonderful grandchildren in Texas. The weather didn’t get unbearably hot and humid until Sunday and when we left Monday it was supposed to get to 104. At 8 AM CDT it already felt as though it were 90 degrees out there.

No matter what airport you visit you will see our troops in combat fatigues, either on their way home for R&R or on their way back to their station in the Mid-East.

They are quiet, polite and bother no one, seeming to just be enjoying the moment of the peace and relative quiet of an airport where the air is cool and refreshing.

Unless you speak to them they don’t speak to you, but if you speak to them they are the most pleasant and polite men and women you would ever want to meet, and it makes you proud to know they are your fellow countrymen and women.

I noticed this time the rank insignia is on their chests at what appears to be over their hearts. I would imagine this is so an enemy combatant wouldn’t be able to tell if he had a private or a general in his sights while in battle since our guys would have armor on them to cover the insignia.

When you shake their hands and give them a “thank you for serving” comment they become very grateful and start smiling. Someone recognizes and cares about what they are doing, and you can tell how much that simple act of kindness means to them.

I asked the hotel for plenty of matches because, as I told them, if I see a soldier who needs matches I’m going to give him or her a complete book and not just a match.

Because my husband served during the Viet Nam war, although he was stationed in Thailand instead of ‘Nam, I know how our Viet Nam vets were treated when they came home, and I don’t want these fine young men and women to get the same treatment, so I go out of my way to thank them and give them a firm handshake. I’ve seen plenty of others do it too.

Regardless of what you think of this war, if you see a troop, go out of your way to thank them. Their happiness at you doing that is all the thanks you need in return. God bless them all.