Bobbie got back on Thursday. She had gone to see the elephant. She arrived happy and in good shape, according to my pal Joe, who was beaming with relief and paternal pride. His little girl was out of the war zone.

She had been part of the surge of troops intended to knock the Taliban back on their heels, disrupt their sanctuaries and set the stage for withdrawal of the International Security and Assistance Forces from Afghanistan.

The long grinding conflict in Iraq is mostly over for us and those of our children who were exposed to that adventure in global power projection and its uncertain resolution. The surge in Afghanistan is being drawn down, even if there are unsettling developments.
France suspended its training operations and will withdraw its entire force from the country early, in the wake of another attack by an Afghan government solider against ISAF personnel.

In this one- the second in a month- came during a particularly deadly day for the international military coalition. Six U.S. Marines also died in a helicopter crash the afternoon Bobbie got back. Even apart from direct contact with the Taliban, war is a complex and perilous business.

Although 30,000 US troops are scheduled to be withdrawn, 70,000 will remain in the country through this new year and the next. Even as all US combat troops depart (as they are scheduled to do by the end of 2014) a core of trainers and other personnel (including the Spooks, of course) will remain.

So it is with a great deal of relief that Bobbie’s folks and uncle Pete went out to greet her at Baltimore-Washington International. To my pal’s surprise, Bobbie and the other returnees were also greeted by members of Operation Homecoming. In addition to some older vets, there was a small task force of young people from the Girl Scouts, 4H, and local schools to cheer and welcome home the returnees.

The Homecoming people monitor the flights coming back from the zones of conflict, and arrange to have people there to greet the troops. Since March, 2007, volunteers have greeted more than 60,000 returning men and women. They hand out care packages to tide the kids over, since unlike Bobbie, most are going to camp out at the airport waiting on flights to get home. This is a big country, and those who went to war are widely scattered in the vast population they protect.

“I was very impressed with the civic lesson that was going here,” he told me. “Young people learning to appreciate the service of others for national security and those who have been engaged in defending our nation seeing visibly that what they have been doing is not only important, but appreciated by young people who will be the long term beneficiaries of the security they have been providing.”

That is quite a change from the greetings that some of my peers got when they debarked from the Pan Am charter flights out of Southeast Asia, and it is gratifying.

Bobbie is home. My pal out west reports that his daughter Kate is on a series of jets coming back from a six-month deployment around the globe on behalf of an agency located not far from BWI. My pal Muhammmed’s son is forward deployed, and has his nuclear family on the ramparts in the Balkans. His wife is serving as well. My guys are herein safety, for now, but the clouds rising over China may have them off to the broad swells of the western Pacific sooner than any of us know.

I just thought I would give a shout out to Operation Homecoming, and Bobbie, James, Nick, Eric, Paige and Kate and the thousands of others who have parents that sweat each phone-call while they are gone. The watch has been changed. These men and women represent the best that is in us, and a demonstration of commitment and courage that inspires me.

Bless the troops. And bless those who turn out to welcome them home.

If you happen to be in the DELMARVA area, you might want to drop by BWI sometime. If you do, call the Operation Welcome Home hotline before heading to the airport, to make sure the flight is still scheduled to land. Charter flights have their vagaries, though those who travel that way generally don’t mind so much if the airplane is headed home. The Operation Homecoming hotline number is 410-630-1555. http://www.operationwelcomehomemd.org/about/

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
Photo credits Mazzafro and Palmtree37.
www.vicsocotra.com