You airmen did good work. Lots of missions completed with safety. I'm glad your two month deployment went well.

I'm eager to welcome home the Army National Guard troops who spend 12 months on their deployment.

Two months? A lot of catching up to do.

Being away from friends and family is mierable. Another thing that not many people know is that flying to and from assignments in the belly of a refueling tanker is no picnic. But I have no doubt that, as always, these devoted men and women did a great job on their deployment. Good job Air National Guard.

Luckily, We only had to endure a short time this round. All of us missing our husbands while there living conditions was less than glamerous, but the poor army men that are still gone for much longer and living in condtions which are HORRID, I feel we are blessed. I would like to Thank the Army Men for the ENORMOUS sacrifice they make to serve our country. People forget they are still there and eating MRE's and living in tents or just on the ground, in suffocating heat, it is NO picnic they do it all for the love of their country. Thank God for the Miltary (all the military.)My hubby is Airforce I thank God for him EVERYDAY.

Don't feel too sorry for the pilots... many of them are furloughed fromt he airlines and in order to pay the bills on their overextended mortgages they WANT to deploy to get the paychecks. And for anybody who knows, going to Manas, Kyrgystan isn't a hardship. The real heros are, and always have been, the people wearing the boots that walk on the combat soil (the Army/Marines in Iraq/Afghanistan)

No true Servicemember would discount the small accolades and recognition that we rarely enjoy. What the obviously young 'Boot' expressed lacks comprehension of the fact that Airmen having been fighting this War for 18 years. He was probably in diapers when I first deployed to the 'Sandbox'; probably still tugging on little girls ponytails when my first marriage failed due to the effects of many deployments. And he's obviously not a combatant, since any boot with combat experience and pinned down behind a stone wall who's had an Airman save his carcass by dropping a 1000-pounder on the bad guys would never dis on an Airman. I'm proud of our Airmen who served at Manas...we kicked butt and took names. As well, I'm proud of our Servicemembers in Harm's Way throughout the AOR, like my younger brother (a 'Boot') in Afghanistan, in the jungles of Central/South America and the Phillipines, or keeping N. Korea honest, or even ordering supplies back here in the States. Service means sacrifice and no sacrifice is small.