Honor Flight Dayton seeks volunteers as greeters

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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  Volunteers are needed to join in a dedicated group's determination to honor U.S. military veterans as they return from their trip to visit their memorials in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 10. Volunteers from the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base community will be needed to greet Honor Flight participants at the Dayton International Airport that Sunday night.

"People volunteer to come to the airport after finding out about the Honor Flight program because they want to say thank you," said National Air and Space Intelligence Center employee Glenn Greet, one of the greeting organizers and an Honor Flight "Guardian."

"They want to see these real-life heroes and tell their kids about them and see the example they set for us," Greet said. "The veterans are modest; they are grateful; they are amazed that we are there, and they say 'thank you' to our active-duty military as much as we say thank you to them.

"Many people return to the homecomings every month, I think, because of how you feel when you do this. It's right, it's fun, it's uplifting and it's the least we all can do."

To participate, a number of procedures must be followed in order to gain access to the gate area. They include arriving by 8:30 p.m. at the Southwest Airlines area and obtaining a gate pass. Senior Master Sgt. Steven Miller, Tech. Sgt. Mark Eiteuner and Senior Master Sgt. Nancy Connell will be organizing in the gate area.

A form of identification is needed as well as passing through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint before 9 p.m. Honor Flight Dayton flights usually arrive between 10: 30 and 11 p.m. Instructions from the Wright-Patterson AFB organizing team will be given in the gate area prior to the arrival of the flight. It's requested that military participate in uniform.