Emotional Cease-Fire

Denise Gamino: ABOARD A TROOP PLANE — Flight attendant John Bechtold keys the public address mike just moments after this wide-body jet swooshes into the humid Texas sky.

His message is not the usual seatbelts-fastened advisory.

He lectures on chew.

Smokeless tobacco is banned. But Bechtold’s been flying with soldiers since America invaded the Middle East after 9/11. He knows dip is on board.

Don’t spit into the seat back pockets, he warns. Don’t leave it in the seats. Above all, don’t spit in the lavatories.


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