In this war, troops get rousing welcome home

In this war, troops get rousing welcome home

By Rick Hampson - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Jul 3, 2008 8:16:31 EDT

WARMINSTER, Pa. — The young soldier hadn’t slept in 48 hours or bathed in 72. Now that he was finally back from Iraq, all Pfc. Justin Gindhart wanted was a hot shower and a soft bed.

But these days, Gindhart discovered, a soldier’s homecoming isn’t always that simple.

To his surprise, there was a troop of motorcycle-riding Vietnam vets to greet him at the airport; a police-escorted motorcade past blocked-off intersections and highway entrances that backed up traffic for miles; an appearance at a support-the-troops rally; and a gathering of neighbors and friends, alerted by fire and ambulance sirens, outside his family’s house. And the biggest shock of all — a reunion with a disabled comrade whose life he’d helped save in Iraq.

“Wow! I thought I was just gonna come home,” the startled private told the crowd that spilled across his lawn and into the street on Father’s Day. “I didn’t expect anything like this!”

He should have. Troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are being welcomed with celebrations that are increasingly elaborate, frequently surreptitious and occasionally over the top.

Like many of those who are greeted like latter-day Caesars, Gindhart was quick to point out that he wasn’t exceptional. He was a 20-year-old medic who’d spent eight months in Iraq and hadn’t been seriously wounded or highly decorated. He was home only on an 18-day leave.

For many communities, nothing is too good when it comes to showing support for returning troops.

“He really deserved something special,” said Gindhart’s mother, Lisa, who had only 18 hours to complete arrangements after learning of her son’s scheduled arrival at the Philadelphia airport. “This is the happiest day of my life.”

She, like many other Americans, said any military homecoming — for temporary leave or to stay home for good — deserves major festivities.

Celebrations such as Gindhart’s reflect a renewed national appreciation of those who serve, said Morten Ender, a sociologist at the U.S. Military Academy.

One reason, he said, is that the home front is asked to sacrifice relatively little for the war effort — no tax surcharges, rationing or draft. So some civilians show their patriotism by how they honor the troops.

“The [Bush] administration has set the tone of going about our normal lives, but people aren’t necessarily comfortable with that,” Ender said. “They want to do something to show their appreciation.”

Sarah Schoen of Port Clinton, Ohio, said that partly explains the elaborate homecoming reception she planned for her boyfriend, Army Sgt. Travis McCleary: “There is a war going on, and we’re here back home, just hangin’ out. This was a way of doing something.”

Diane Mazur, a University of Florida law professor and former Air Force officer, goes further: “What motivates these ostentatious displays is the unspoken, almost unconscious guilt over the way military service works now. A narrow slice of Americans serve again and again. It’s as if we’re saying, ‘We will engage in these very public displays of worship, provided you don’t ask ‘us’ to serve.’”

And there’s something else. Talk to those who stage these welcome celebrations, and it becomes clear that it’s not only about the reception these troops deserve but also about the reception another generation of returning veterans deserved and did not get.

It’s about Vietnam.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/gns_homecomings_070308/