# Best E-mail of the Year!!



## Thompson (11 Apr 2006)

I just received this e-mail today, I'm not sure who wrote it but it is pretty nice i hope you enjoy it, i did. anyhow feel free to pass it on to anyone.




Best Email of The Year 

I sat in my seat of the Boeing 767 waiting for everyone to hurry and stow their carry-ons and grab a seat so we could start what I was sure to be a long, uneventful flight home. 

With the huge capacity and slow moving people taking their time to stuff luggage far too big for the overhead and never paying much attention to holding up the growing line behind them, I simply shook my head knowing that this flight was not starting out very well. I was anxious to get home to see my loved ones so I was focused on my issues and just felt like standing up and yelling for some of these clowns to get their act together. 


I knew I couldn't say a word so I just thumbed Threw the "Sky Mall" magazine from the seat pocket in front of me. You know it's really getting rough when ! you resort to the over priced, useless sky mall crap to break the monotony. With everyone finally seated, we just sat there with the cabin door open and no one in any hurry to get us going although we were well past the scheduled take off time. No wonder the airline industry is in trouble I told myself. 

Just then, the attendant came on the intercom to inform us all that we were being delayed. 

The entire plane let out a collective groan. ! 

She resumed speaking to say "We are holding the aircraft for some very special people who are on their way to the plane and the delay shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. 

The! word came after waiting six times as long as we were promised that I was finally going to be on my way home. 

Why the hoopla over "these" folks? 

I was expecting some celebrity or sport figure to be the reason for the hold up .. 

Just get their butts in a seat and let's hit the gas I thought. 

The attendant came back on the speaker to announce in a loud and excited voice that we were being joined by several Canadian Soldiers returning home from Afghanistan !!! 

Just as they walked on board, the entire plane erupted into applause. 

The men were a bit taken by surprise by the 
340 people cheering for them as they searched for their seats. 

They were having their hands shook and touched by almost everyone who was within an arm's distance of them as they passed down the aisle. One elderly woman kissed the hand of one of the Soldiers as he passed by her. 

The applause, whistles and cheering didn't stop for a long time. 

When we were finally airborne, I was not the only civilian checking his conscience as to the delays in "me" getting home, finding my easy chair, a cold beverage and the remote in my hand. 

These men had done for all of us and I had been complaining silently about "me" and "my" issues I took for granted the everyday freedoms I enjoy and the conveniences of the Canadian way of life. 

I took for granted that others had paid the price for my ability to moan and complain about a few minutes delay to "me" while those Heroes were going home to their loved ones. 

I attempted to get my selfish outlook back in order and minutes before we landed, I suggested to the attendant that she announce over the speaker a request for everyone to remain in their seats until our heroes were allowed to gather their things and be first off the plane. 

The cheers and applause continued until the last soldier stepped off and we a ll rose to go about our too often taken for granted everyday freedoms. 

I felt proud of them. 

I felt it an honour and a privilege to be among the first to welcome them home and say "Thank You for a job well done." 

I vowed that I will never forget that flight nor the lesson learned. I can't say it enough, THANK YOU to those Veterans and active servicemen and women who may read this and a prayer for those who cannot because they are no longer with us. 

GOD BLESS CANADA! 

WELCOME HOME! AND THANKS FOR A JOB WELL DONE!!!!! 

This is a ribbon for soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. 

Pass it on to everyone and pray.


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## striker (11 Apr 2006)

Beautiful


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## Teddy Ruxpin (11 Apr 2006)

This has been around _forever_...never happened.  There's another copy floating around the cesspool that's the Internet that has the soldiers as being American...


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## Jantor (11 Apr 2006)

Teddy Ruxpin said:
			
		

> This has been around _forever_...never happened.  There's another copy floating around the cesspool that's the Internet that has the soldiers as being American...



That's a shame. I would have liked that story to have actually taken place at some time. You soldiers sure deserve it IMHO


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## Teddy Ruxpin (11 Apr 2006)

Actually, something similar to the events in the e-mail did happen:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/onleave.asp

However, as for the one quoted above:

http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/fltdelay.html


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## Thompson (11 Apr 2006)

Thats to bad that it is a fake. It was a good story of the support the soldiers deserve! Thank you for clearing it up TR.


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## George Wallace (11 Apr 2006)

Don't feel too bad or too sad.  That story has been posted here before.  As we can see, with out a doubt, it will again.


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## Gunner98 (13 Apr 2006)

I have witnessed several similar events while travelling with US soldiers.  All American airlines acknowledge the military flying on civilian planes ("We have a few soldiers on board today, thank-you for serving your country" Applause...)  They are often upgraded to empty First Class seats or moved to the front of the standby list when travelling in uniform.


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## George Wallace (13 Apr 2006)

Here is another e-mail to add to the collection:

Subject: God's Deck of Card's

   No matter your religious beliefs this is pretty clever!!

   God's Deck of Cards

   It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.

   The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.

   As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.

   Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?"

   The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord."

   The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards."

   The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards."

   The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?"

   You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.

   The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.

   The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

   The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

   The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.

   The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.

   The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.

   The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives - the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.

   The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.

   The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.

   The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.

   The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.

   The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.

   When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

   There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.

   The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

   Each suit has thirteen cards - there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

   So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for"

   The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart.  He said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?"

   Please let this be a reminder and take time to pray for all of our soldiers who are being sent away, putting their lives on the line fighting.

   Pray for the Military.

   Please keep the wheel rolling. It will only take a few seconds of your time, but it'll be worth it to read on....

   Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.  Protect them.  Bless them and their families.  I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
                                            Amen.


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## DG-41 (13 Apr 2006)

> All American airlines acknowledge the military flying on civilian planes



This happened to me personally.

I was in Prep Year CMR, 1987. A friend of mine was from Victoria, I was from Quesnel, and he knew someone who was a travel agent, so he arranged our flights home for Xmas vacation - American Airlines Dorval -> Chicago O'Hare -> Seattle SeaTac, and then AirBC flights from there.

But he didn't pay very close attention to the time appreciation, so our flight wound up leaving like 40min after the start of leave. So we had to blast from St Jean to Dorval and get checked in with no time for dicking around and getting changed out of leave dress.

At the time (and maybe it still is) the leave dress for Preps was the #4 blue tunic, the same tunic as Militia Patrols (less the chain mail). It looks a LOT like the American Marine dress uniform, and there's no insignia anywhere to say one way or another.

So we make it on the plane, and the next thing we know, drinks are on the house. I tried explaining that we weren't Marines (Verite, Devoir, Valliance) but that didn't change anything . Free Booze!

So by the time we hit O'Hare, the two of us were more than half in the bag.

Now if you've never flown into O'Hare, the layout of the airport is a giant "Y". We landed at one end of one branch, and the gate for our connecting flight was at the other extreme - and was leaving in 5 minutes. The gate attendant called ahead and held the plane, while the two of us stagger-ran to the next gate. As we are running down the hallway, people are moving out of our way and APPLAUDING as we go by.

We get to the gate, and find that not only have they held the flight so we could get on, not only have they expedited our luggage over so it's on the plane too, they oversold the plane and actually *pulled two people off the flight* so we could get on. And then, once on, free drinks once more!

(Nobody applauded when we boarded the plane though) 

Some more stuff happened in Seattle too... but I don't want to burn all my best material in one spot. ;D

DG


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## Booked_Spice (13 May 2006)

Well just thought I would add my 2 cents...

When Hubby was coming home for HTLA from Toronto to Edmonton. There was an announcement that there were Canadian Soldiers on board going home to their loved ones for some rest from Afghanistan. One woman actually bought hubby a drink. I thought that was pretty nice. So I do believe it does happen on some Canadian flights.. just not as much as it should.


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## manhole (13 May 2006)

Bangor, Maine is the first stop for many troops coming back from overseas in the USA.   They have volunteers who greet every flight of troops coming in - no matter the hour or day.   These troops are welcomed, spend some time, and move on to their next leg of travel.   Good idea, Bangor!!!!!!!!!!


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