Flight attendants on Southwest Airlines decided to let a soldier stationed in Twenty-Nine Palms, who hadn’t seen his family in a year get off the plane before the other passengers. RELATED: Flight Attendant Joined By Dad On Every Christmas Flight So She Wouldn’t Be Alone Gets The Day Off ‘For The First Time’
Online, many believed the soldier didn’t deserve to disembark first.
The other passengers were asked to stay seated as he deboarded the plane in a gesture intended to thank him for his services. Everyone applauded as he made his way to the front of the airplane with his carry-on bag. The attempt at recognizing the soldier for his sacrifice garnered heartwarming responses from most people, but there were many commenters on Twitter that weren’t so sure the preferential treatment was warranted. RELATED: Flight Attendant Yells ‘I Am Not Your Servant’ After Heated Argument With A Passenger Over A Sandwich One person commented, “Bro probably only enlisted cause he didn’t know what to do after high school.” That tweet was viewed almost 19,000 times. — Michael Youngdeer (@myoungdeer05) December 22, 2022 But another Twitter user responded, “Bro is making sure you have the right to your freedom of speech and your Twitter handle says everything I need to know about you!” They were referencing his username, @beerandxanax. Another poster took aim at the soldier saying, “Every US military member’s response when offered a place ahead of a civilian in line, should be: ‘Thank you for your kindness, but I will wait my turn.’ The exceptions to this rule should be wounded, disabled, WW2 and Korean vets.” That comment was rebutted by another user who said, “I understand and respect that, but I think every of our American service Men and Women deserve our respect and not just a simple ’thank you for your service.’” RELATED: Woman Keeps Putting Her Bare Feet On Another Passenger’s Armrest During Flight — She Learns A Valuable Lesson One person shared insight into how the show of kindness came about. He posted, “My wife chatted with him and found out his name and his situation.” “She was at Fort Irwin and understood his situation so she asked the flight attendant if there was something they could do to thank him for his service and that’s how this happened.” Still, here were people who thought the young man could have been more chivalrous in his response to the niceties. They also believed that there was no reason to empathize with his absence from his family because it was by choice. One man shared his thoughts, posting, “I am old school. A 19-year-old in good health should let women, children and elderly go first. He is serving stateside and gets 30 days paid leave a year. If he hasn’t been home since last Christmas, it’s because he had better things to do.” Whether you agree with the enlisted soldier getting off the plane before everyone else or not, one thing is for sure — with all of the negativity and mean-spiritedness in the world, it’s beautiful to see people treating one another with love and respect. RELATED: Flight Attendant Confronts Woman Holding Baby After Allegedly Smelling Alcohol & Ends Up In Aggressive Tussle NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.
