'Welcome Home a Hero' program ending at Dallas airport (by the Army)

MSNBC ^ | 3-3-12 | Harriet Baskas

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Those American flags and welcome signs won't be needed at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport anymore.

Every day, for the past eight years, at least one chartered plane carrying U.S. soldiers heading home for two weeks of rest and recuperation from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan has touched down at both Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airports.

*snip*

But the drawdown of troops in Iraq and the shift to shorter deployments means there are no longer two full planes of R&R-bound soldiers returning home each day. So the U.S. army has decided to consolidate the "Welcome Home a Hero" program in Atlanta.

March 14 will be the final Dallas arrival.

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God bless all our brave, intrepid and ever selfless and proud military .. AND the hundreds of the most wonderful Americans, who went out of their way to make sure every single troop homecoming was filled with immense gratitude, honor, love and joy, including including Pres. George W. Bush, their greatest supporter and friend, at DFW... (sniff).

Welcome Home A Hero

Dallas International Airport - Welcome Home a Hero

Welcome Home A Hero Facebook page

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.. Ping!

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Another military move

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Moving Military Newspaper to Base Raises Concerns on Independence (Stars & Stripes)

Excerpt:

The 80-member newsroom and business staff was ordered to Fort Meade, Md., where it would be housed at no cost alongside the agency that oversees official Pentagon and military media operations.

Staff members objected. And now, concerns that proximity could potentially lead to interference have reached Capitol Hill — which heightens the debate, since Stars and Stripes is subsidized with taxpayer funds but operates with a Congressional endorsement to maintain journalistic independence.

One of the most powerful voices on military affairs in Congress, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, wrote Mr. Panetta this week agreeing that questions of editorial independence for Stars and Stripes were “well-placed, and should lead to a review of possible alternatives to this decision.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us/stars-and-stripes-staff-worried-about-move-to-military-base.html?src=me&ref=us

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[Zakeet]

We met our son-in-law at DFW about a year ago when he came home from Iraq for a couple of weeks to attend the birth of our granddaughter.

They allowed family members to stand in front of the barriers in back of the black and white sign. There were more banners and more flags than in the picture. Attendees were mainly church groups, and school honor societies, and scouts. More than the number shown in the picture ... probably over 100 people. Lot more flags, and a heck of a lot of cheering. It made for an awesome tribute to our returning heroes.

[Fast Moving Angel]

I was in Atlanta airport one time when a planeload of soldiers came in. It wasn’t a big organized welcome like this, but it was so cool because the impromptu applause for them was nearly deafening - and you could hear it rise and fall as they walked down the hallway.