This weekend trip to Tampa has been on of expressed friendship. Because of the apparent foolishness of US Airways, I had to fly from Greensboro to Tampa (via Charlotte). This meant, rather than flying directly from Charlotte, I had to drive to Greensboro (and hour and a half) away, board a plane which flew directly back to Charlotte, then change planes to the exact plane in Charlotte that I could not originally board in Charlotte. The flight was not full, not even crowded, just extrememly over-priced!
My friend Joe took time out of his busy morning to drive me to Greensboro and then drove back to Charlotte for his busy day. His was a picture of dear friendship because he hates to drive (anywhere).
Upon my arrival in Tampa, my friend Dave had to leave the busyness of his family gatherings, preparing for his detailed retirement ceremony to come and collect me at the Tampa airport, transport me to a hotel, and then get back to the difficult work of planing for many visitors to clear security on to McDill Air Force Base -- The home of the United States Central Command Headquarters. In addition to this he was a marvelous host to me during the entire two days -- even though he was flush with many family members here for the ceremony. David is a picture of a true friend.
My entire reason for making this trip to Tampa was to express my friendship to my dear brother Col. Dave West, who yesterday was retired from 35 years of military service. For the past eight years, Dave had ad the unique responsibility of serving as Command Chaplain of both USCENTCOM and for the Central Command Special Forces. These assignments placed him in the most intense war zones of the world. I'm so proud of him and hope that always I proved to be a friend to him.
Go now and prove to be a friend!
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