Last Saturday night my wife and I were in the San Diego airport waiting for our red eye back to Philly. While we were waiting for our flight we kept hearing applause and cheering break out but we didn't know what was going on. My wife walked over to see what it was; when she came back she had a big smile on her face and told me I had to check it out. The commotion was coming from the baggage claim area (which was directly below our gate). What I saw gave me goose bumps...
There was a large group of people (200-300) at the bottom and top of the escalators that were waiting for a group of armed forces personnel that were coming home from the war. As soon as a service person stepped on the escalator to make their decent to baggage claim they were greeted with a very loud and heartfelt reception to welcome them home. I can’t begin to image what these people have gone through but you could tell by the smiles on their faces that the outpouring of appreciated shown by their fellow travelers might have made them understand how much they are appreciated.
It felt pretty good to be an American last Saturday night.
(what ELSE do you do at Disney besides stand in line???? 
), and got to chatting with the young family in front of me, three little boys and their mom and dad. Came to learn that the dad was in the military. I thanked him for all that he and his family have done for us....the smiles that came to both their faces made me VERY happy that to realize how proud they are of what they do. Witnessing this on a small scale, I can only imagine the magnitude of what you saw the other day in the airport! Thanks for sharing! 
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