The Daughter of a Soldier

I wanted to post the content of an e-mail I received from a friend in Vancouver, whose son is in the Canadian Army. The message she sent was heart warming, especially following the events of last few days…

Her son is in training in Petawawa, Ont. – part of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. Read more about this regiment here.

Unlike a lot of my American friends I never really felt patriotic as such. Like I wrote in the e-mail I sent out yesterday to a bunch of Canadian friends, I don’t really have an opinion pro or con the military – I do about war, but that’s a whole other story!

I’m “happy” that there are people out there willing to give their life up for our security, I appreciate that, and I’m thankful to all of them.

This is what I sent out yesterday:

Proud to be a Soldier!!! From the daughter of a Soldier. Last week I was at Canadian Forces Base Trenton. Trenton Ontario Canada where I was attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer.

I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos, as they began heading to their gate everyone well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.

When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded Canadian who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl then she asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.

The young soldier, he didn’t look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek. The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Corporal and had been in Afghanistan for 11 months now.

As the mom was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie.

They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon."

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event unfolded. As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause.

As I stood there applauding and looked around, their were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek. We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices.

At the end of the day, it's good to be a Canadian. Red Friday Just keeping you "in the loop" so you'll know what's going on in case this takes off. RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday. The reason? Canadians who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority". We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.

We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing. We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions. Many Canadians, like you, all our friends, and me simply want to recognize that the vast majority of Canada supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday –and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every red-blooded Canadian who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the Canada on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before Canada is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked "What can we do to make things better for you?" is... We need your support and your prayers. Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and wear something red every Friday.
IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON. IF YOU COULDN’T CARE LESS THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON.. IT IS YOUR CHOICE. THEIR BLOOD RUNS RED - SO WEAR RED! - Lest we Forget, Lest we Forget!

Today, I wore a red T-Shirt.

I got an e-mail from a friend in which he mentioned that the story of the little girl might be a hoax. Darn! I hate that! I don’t know how many times this happened… I’m not vigilant enough for those things.

I read the link he provided. Here it is.

Then I realized that no matter what, for me the main message I wanted to convey by sending this message out yesterday was that if some of us support our troops and chose to wear red on Fridays, why not?

The little girl’s story might have been the way to hook people in, but the fact that some of us do support our troops and might want to show it is the main message I think, and it was the part I wanted to convey.

I have some distant relatives in the military and I hope that they will remain safe as well as D-L’s son...

They have my support.