Veteran gives soldier credit for her service

When Kristina Staub got off her plane at the Pittsburgh International Airport on Aug. 13, it was the first time she had touched American soil in 91/2 months.
A sergeant in the Army, Kristina had just finished a tour of duty in Iraq, where she served as the signal team chief of her unit, providing communication throughout Iraq.
After touching down in Pittsburgh, all she could think about was getting home to Fort Bragg, N.C., where her 41/2-year-old daughter, Brianna, was eagerly waiting for a hug from Mommy.
"I was so close," Kristina says. "I just had to get a vehicle and head down."
Problem awaits
With cash in hand, Kristina went to rent a car.
She was turned down by every car rental agency at the airport. Her cash was no good; she needed a credit card.
Kristina hadn't taken a credit card to Iraq.
From a pay phone at the airport, Kristina called home to tell her family of her plight. It seemed the only option was for a relative to drive nine hours to Pittsburgh to pick her up.
Kristina was determined there was a better way.
"I noticed several businessmen dressed up holding signs," Kristina says. She made a sign of her own.
"I have $," her sign read. "Do you have a credit card to help me get home? (Car)"
Dressed in her Army fatigues, the sergeant stood in the midst of thousands of people bustling through the airport holding her sign.
"It was hard for me to put the sign up," Kristina admits. "I was not really looking at anybody. I just thought if they see my note and they can help, they will."
Nobody did.
"It was humiliating," the soldier says.
Waiting for a ride
After 31/2 hours, Kristina made a call home again. When she hung up, she returned to where she had been standing with her sign to wait the nine long hours for her ride.
That's when Tim Weigel arrived at the airport. A limousine driver for a corporation in Darlington, Pa., Tim was picking up a client.
"There were people everywhere," he recalls. "The carousels were full. Then I saw this young woman in fatigues."
A Vietnam veteran, Tim approached Kristina to thank her for her service to our country.
"It was cool to be able to talk with a Vietnam veteran," Kristina says of her conversation with Tim.
Then Tim noticed the sign in Kristina's hand.
"All those thousands of people and nobody had said a word to her," Tim says with disgust.
"He pulled a credit card out of his pocket," Kristina says. She still gets choked up when she remembers the moment. "I started to cry."
"Let's get this young lady a car and get her home," Tim told the car rental agent.
His own memories
For Tim, the encounter represented closure to his own tour of duty in Vietnam more than 30 years ago.
"I landed in Los Angeles," Tim recalls. When he went to buy a plane ticket to get home to Pittsburgh, he found he did not have enough money.
Although Kristina was ignored in the midst of her plight, Tim remembers people throwing things at him and spitting on his uniform in 1971.
"Ever since then, I never wanted to talk about Vietnam," he says, choking back tears.
Three days later, a fellow serviceman traveling through the airport gave Tim the rest of the money he needed for a ticket home.
"We are brothers and sisters in arms in the military," Tim says. "You never forget that."
"I didn't join the service for one reason; I joined for every reason," Kristina says. "I am proud to serve, and I wanted to serve in Iraq."
"My grandfather served in World War II. He was in The Battle of the Bulge," Kristina shares. "I do the same job he did in the service."
If Kristina's grandfather had found himself short of resources, I wonder how long he would have been stranded after serving our country.
gwhite@vindy.com