Mourn With Those Who Mourn - Update

I spoke with Noah... He told me how deferential and respectful everyone had been during his travels... How the airline crews handling Tommy's casket had stopped to pay respects... An escort must be present whenever the casket is loaded and unloaded from vehicle to plane, from plane to plane, to vehicle... and as they changed planes twice, the loading and unloading occurred frequently and he mentioned how gently everyone involved handled the casket and how respectful they had been... How nice the flight and cabin crews had been.

Since he was traveling in his Class-A uniform through two airports, many people stopped to thank him, talk with him. He could not discuss why he was traveling, but people were polite and encouraging all along the journey just because he was a soldier. These people were genuinely grateful for his service, and Noah was genuinely touched by the show of support. He mentioned that he will miss the funeral for another of his comrades which will take place on Tuesday while he travels back, but he will be able to attend the memorial service for the five soldiers on Thursday. It's important to him.

He called at nearly midnight our time -- 3:00AM back at his base... He had just gotten to his hotel after finishing at the mortuary and completing the tasks and paperwork required of him. He sounded good, if tired. I know the staff from the AF base in Delaware picked Noah and a few other escorts up at 0600 this morning, so I'm sure he's exhausted. He heads back to the airport for the return flight tomorrow (this) morning with a layover at DFW, so one of his aunts that lives nearby is going to meet him between flights even though the layover is just an hour (that's assuming the flights are on time). I told my sister that she didn't have to try to get out there with such a short layover, but this former Marine had not been able to see her nephew before he deployed and said, "If he was within 100 miles, I'd be there for just 5 minutes to hug the stuffings outta that soldier!" So if all goes well, Noah will get a big hug tomorrow. And a hug from one of my sissies is almost as good as a hug from Mom...

And I heard from one of our Guys via instant message just briefly this evening... He said they missed Noah but were glad he was here and not there... they were so exhausted... that the mail deliveries are now pretty irregular where they are (as are food deliveries) because of the risk of IEDs so they were more grateful than ever to have the packages when they got through... they need everything, so the call is going out to Noah's network of friends and family to load up for the Guys... they were hurtin' for the loss of their friends, but otherwise their morale is high -- they're "gittin' it done". I closed with my usual "eyes up & a$$ down" which got a LOL laugh. Sometimes, it's so sad, ya just gotta laugh...

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