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April 14, 2006


Welcome home, Marine. You're on our list

Earlier this week, 26 Marines arrived home from eight months in Iraq. When they arrived at LAX, Northwest airlines allowed 25 of them to board their connecting flight to Minneapolis St.Paul airport.

SSgt. Daniel Brown was informed that he was on a terrorist watch list and denied boarding. Never mind that he had spent the last eight months fighting the real thing. Never mind that this was his second deployment. His name appeared on a TSA list and he was grounded.

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Everything seemed normal when Brown, 32, of Coon Rapids, and the other Marines, all wearing their uniforms, gathered at the Northwest Airlines counter in Los Angeles Tuesday morning. The unit had served in Al-Anbar province of Iraq, known as the dangerous Sunni Triangle. But when Brown tried to check in, there was a problem.

"I was told it was going to take some time because they informed me I was on a government watch list," Brown said. "People at the Northwest counter said they had to call somebody to get me cleared."

The clearance took time, and Brown missed the flight. He was scheduled to arrive in the Twin Cities at 2:30 p.m. but didn't get here until 3:45 p.m.

All the Marines thought Brown should have received a better welcome from his country.

"It didn't sit well with any of us. I wasn't the only one upset about it. We all were," Brown said.

There's more. When the first 25 Marines arrived in Minnesota, they knew their familes were just a few miles away - families they hadn't seen for eight months. They also knew that SSgt Brown was on his way.

They waited for him.

"We don't leave anybody behind," 1st Sgt. Drew Benson said. "We start together, and we finish together."
Just one more example of the esprit de corps that makes the USMC unique among our fighting forces

Posted by Deb at April 14, 2006 01:22 AM

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