Green Ramp.

I wanted to make a blog focused solely on green ramp. For the followers that aren't military, Green ramp is where you meet your loved ones after deployment, or where you may see them off. When I first heard the term green ramp, I pictured a runway that was green. Cute, I know. Green Ramp is more of a ginormous storage garage with bleachers on an air strip.
The day Jeff came home, you get a number to call along with a "secret code" to find out when the plane comes in. My "secret code" was "flight ohio" and I called that number 27 times that night. The first time, the flight was supposed to come in at 1am. That being said, you want to be at green ramp a couple hours early. So I made sure I was ready around 7pm.  After calling numerous times the flight was coming in at 2am. So I met up with an Army wife I had met online, along with Jeff's mom and little sister. We had left at midnight and were on post around 1am. We waited around for what seemed like forever. I stepped into the garage not expecting what to see. I was expecting the guys to come to green ramp on buses like those old war movies.  When I got there, there weren't that many people. There were kids all dressed in "My daddy is my hero" t-shirts, women dressed extremely nice and (some like they were hooking). American flags were in the hands of everybody there. Homemade signs. The whole ten yards. The army band was there and they were playing. It made the situation seem a whole lot more real. I sat on the bleachers nervously shaking. A man came up to the PA and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen the flight will be in sight in about 15 minutes." Everyone cheered and the band continued to play. Other soldiers were there and they brought out a red carpet. A few minutes later that same man came back to the PA. "Ladies, your 82nd Airborne troopers are now in sight." At that point half the people ran out the door to watch the plane land, I stood up. Next to me was a girl not much older than me. We both looked at each other, screamed and cried. "I think I'm gonna puke!" She boldly stated. I didn't know her, but I felt like I knew her. I knew her pain. "I think I'm gonna pee!" I said back all excited. The plane landed, the band played and our soldiers marched right in those doors. It was the most over whelming feeling ever, and you could feel everyone elses feelings too. After talking about how deployment was and other jib jab, they let the soldiers go to their family for fifteen minutes. I couldn't find Jeff ANYWHERE. I finally spotted him and had previously thought about doing the whole dramatic jumping into the arms of a soldier move, but I didnt. I didn't even have time for my brain to tell me to breathe. I ran off the bleaches nearly falling on my face, ran into a girl who was no older than six, and gave him the biggest hug I had to give. It was amazing, and the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. It didnt seem real....This was the man I've been waiting for for 365 days. Here he is. Shining armor and all. After the fifteen minutes were up the PA announcer said that the soldiers had to come back to their company, return their weapons and do a few briefings. (Basically that briefing was to tell the soldier not to go off the deep end.) To my left another soldier was greeting his family and was walking away and his little boy, no older than 4 started crying, "Daddy don't go back! Come home!" THAT was the saddest thing I have seen. My heart hurt for that little boy. But his daddy came home and they are now stationed in Colorado. Jeff was at his company for about four hours and I got to pick him up and we moved into our apartment that day. Green Ramp is an amazing experience and it was so emotional. I'm glad I got to be a part of it, and I'm glad I felt the things I did. But I am not looking forward to doing it again. It will happen again, but as for now, I'm loving my soldier like he is leaving tomorrow.