Airman's Thanksgiving

[shaddragger]

Since my son left for BMT on 11/13 I have been scouring the www looking for info about where he is, what he's doing. I found a Facebook page, AFWingMoms, (yeah I'm a Dad, but the news is current) that has a discussion group for the flight he's in. With Thanksgiving approaching, everybody was digging hard for news when the Air Force BMT posted on their wall that two flights of one training squad would be going to a local restaurant for Thanksgiving and two flights of another squad, Wes's, would be hosted by neighboring Javelina Harley Davidson-Buell for a meal. I looked up their website and found out they have been doing this for four years.
  Struggling with separation, I emailed them. I thanked them for the comfort they offered our Airmen during this time of family when we could not be there with them. Trevor Bird, GM at Javelina, immediately returned my message with good news. T-mobile would be donating phones with minutes for them to call home and if i would give him Wes's info he would find him for me. I returned his TRS/FLT #'s and wished blessings on him for his efforts.
  Thursday morning was strangely quiet here. At 9 am the phone rang and I didn't even recognize the voice on the other end. "I've got 15 minutes." He was SO homesick. 2 minutes later I hear a voice in the background, " 5 MINUTES, YOU GOT 5 MINUTES!! He knew about the lunch so I told him to thank Trevor if he bumped into him. "30 SECONDS TO CUT OFF!!" Goodbye.
  At 2 pm the phone rings. The wife grabs the phone and I know it's him. This time he's a little more upbeat. " Dad, I didn't have to look for Trevor, he came and found me!"  True to his word, Trevor Bird found Wes and offered his personal phone for him to call us. Wes refused, thanking him, saying he would use the same phones his buddies used to be fair. "I've got 30 minutes!" We talked for a few minutes and I knew he wanted to call his girl, so I told him we wouldn't be selfish. "I think he was taking pics with his phone Dad." LIGHT BULB!!
  As soon as we hung up I checked my email. Not only had Trevor made sure my Airman got a call home but he had emailed me a photo of him in line. I sent a return Thank You to some one who went well past where he had to go and ensured a better day for so many people.
 
The tall kid in the center is mine! Note two plates at the dessert bar!

If any of you live near Boerne,TX and are in the market for a Harley or Buell, please see these folks. If they are as nice to customers as they are to strangers, this has to be the best place to buy a bike!

[FinsnFur]

Well that all came together very nicely for ya.
Hang in there Dad, and make room for some more pride. Cause when he's done you'll be even MORE proud him.

[coyote101]

Great story! Thank you so much for sharing that.

Pat

[Hawks Feather]

Yea, thanks for sharing.  Separation is not easy - I can remember when my daughter and husband did a year long mission trip to Mexico that it was not easy on any of us.  It was a great thing for the dealer to do for the troops.

Jerry

[slagmaker]

Now thats a Thanksgiving story to be remembered.

Being seperated from family is not easy, especially during the holidays.

Thanks for sharing.

[George Ackley]

I most likely wont begetting a bike but if I ever do I now know where is will be from .
and i just sent a e-mail telling just what i thought about them and what they have done

[shaddragger]

Thanks a lot guys. I know lots of you have gone through something like this on one side or the other and the support definitely helps. He is going through his toughest challenge yet, and Dad can't help him at all. We keep pouring letters to him since support is all we can give him right now.

[iahntr]

Pretty cool ! 
Hang in there.