As we fastened our seat belts, and I looked straight ahead, something caught my attention and I began feeling a lump in my throat.  It was the back of the necks of two young men.  They were so young and tender looking.  I didn’t know their names yet but it didn’t matter because to me they were named “Brooks!”  Brooks, my young 17 year old grandson who had just finished going through the process of being interviewed and accepted for the Army.  I later learned that they were Adam and Jordan.  Adam caught my eye and smiled back at me.  Soon after getting to a cruising altitude, he asked me “Are we almost there?”  I had to chuckle remembering that that is the question that little ones always ask on a trip.   I replied “No, we have about three hours left but I will keep you posted.”  I noticed that he was not wearing a watch.  He told me that he was “In charge of his group.”  “How many recruits in your group?’  I asked.   “Six, I am in charge of six!”  And how many are there?  “Twenty” he replied.  He directed my attention to the right of the aisle seat where my husband Chuck was sitting and identified the two young men as being part of “His group.” 

And then “I thought I was going to cry” when I noticed that the young one closest to Chuck had taken a short stack of pictures from his pocket.  I could see from two seats away that there was a girl with long blond hair in the pictures.  He kept looking at the pictures one by one and over again.  He would put them away and then take them back out again to look at them one by one.  My eyes were welling up with tears as I saw Brooks sitting there looking at pictures from home and I started looking through my bags for a tissue.  As I dabbed at my face, his eyes caught mine, his lips began to quiver and as he looked at the pictures longingly he started to sniff.  I thought “Oh no, I am not helping this situation and inwardly I thought ‘Chuck, do something can’t you see this young man needs some encouragement’!”  By this time, Chuck had noticed that my eyes were red and my mascara was smeared from wiping them and I whispered to him “It is that young man looking at his pictures!”I inwardly breathed a sign of relief because now I knew that Chuck would take over.  He looked at “John” because by now we knew his name, and said “Young man, are you having trouble?”  He asked him that question very softly so no one else could hear.  Meanwhile, I am thinking what can I do to help without seeming forward.  

I took out a business card and wrote quickly on the back ” My name is Clema and I am the grand mother of 14!  Please remember that “I can do all things through Him who  strengthens me!!” Phil. 4:13.  In six weeks you will be so strong and so proud that you made it through it.  As a country, we are proud of you!”   As Chuck continued his conversation with John I asked him to hand it to him.  He looked at it and smiled.  We noticed that he had a small bible and had been reading it earlier.  We now found out that his church had given it to him as a going away present.  The more Chuck talked with him, the more his spirits lifted and he began to smile and tell us all about his girl at home and how he missed her even though he just left her that morning.  He also mentioned that his mom had a new baby and how she had cried so hard when he left.  Chuck told him that he understood how hard that was and that the only time that he remembered his Mama crying was the day he left for the Navy.  John did not take the pictures out again once that Chuck started talking with him and reassuring him that his feelings were normal.  Chuck ended his conversation as the flight attendant announced “Prepare for landing” but also gave him his card and said if you ever need a pen-pal this is my address. 

I had remembered to keep Adam posted on the time.  He rounded up all of his troops and we observed them all in a circle with the exception of one, John, who was making a last minute phone call back home to “You know who, the girl with the long blond hair!”

I do not have to worry about that “Young neck” being Brooks since he decided that he was not ready for the Army.  And neither was his grandmother ready for the Army for him!  God bless all of our troops who preserve our freedom and give up so much.  “Freedom is never free!”