This was an email I received....... It touched me because my childrens father is in the navy and was posted to the gulf last year....... His ship hmas stuart was the australian ship that helped rescue some of the american service men who were hurt in the suicide boat attacks last year...... And when I read it I felt the same pride for him ( even though we are seperated now) as the authour of the email...... I just wanted to share.......

Subject: fw: our soldiers...

On this vietnam vets 39th anniversary of the battle of long tan and
this still happens.

One of my sons serves in the military.

He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people
were to him, and his troops, everywhere he goes, telling me how people
shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and
fight,
for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also.

But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped
at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of
several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burka. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the australian flag
lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and
touched the pin, and said proudly, quote;"yes, I always wear it and i
probably always will".

The woman in the burka then asked the cashier when she was going to
stop bombing her countrymen,explaining that she was iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm
around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm
and gentle voice to the iraqi woman:
"lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that you could stand here, in my country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing your countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in your own country, we wouldn't need to be there today.But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, i'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to iraq so you can straighten out the mess in your country that you are obviously here in my country to avoid".Everyone within hearing distance cheered!


>pass it on.... Patriotism is not a fad message. It's what we stand
for.