I love this picture

It’s a wonderful picture, though we might hope that some day Mr. Willis will join in the efforts to return “awesome” to its perfectly useful and etymologically consistent meaning of “inspiring terror, fear, or reverential wonder” as opposed to, like, perpetuating it as this generation’s “Far out!” like.

I love this picture, and my love for it doesn’t diminish regardless if she is departing or arriving.

You can see the pain in her face. We don’t know if that pain is new or old, and we don’t need to. It tells the story it needs to without a caption, and that is the definition of a great, newsworthy photo.

That being said, I’m pretty sure it is her returning. The goodbyes seem to be said on-base, the hellos are often in an airport from the photos I have seen.

We all looked and were moved. But did the guy behind her even break stride?

This has seemed to be one of those wars (Afghanistan or Iraq, either one) where life has gone on despite it to the point where probably a lot of people don’t give it much thought. We’ve grown pretty accustomed to seeing uniformed soldiers in our airports, arriving or departing in large numbers.

Maybe the ?business traveler behind her glanced and was moved. More likely, he’s seen it before and it was just another day to him.

The spectrum of observation isn’t limited to only to either complete ignorance, or gawking and interrupting.