Yellow Ribbons

ON THE CAMPUS of Goucher College, the large trees in the built-up area of the campus are still ringed by yellow ribbons. The students have fled for spring break; the campus is almost deserted -- just as it was on Jan. 17, a few days before courses began.The "mother of battles" never happened; it wasn't another Vietnam. Why, the whole thing didn't last half a semester! Despite all the talk of Armageddon, it turned out to be scarcely a blip in our lives.I have no idea who tied the bows on those trees.

Is your dog a DINOS ? The acronym hasn't quite caught on yet, but it stands for Dog in Need of Space. Coined by Maine dogwalker Jessica Dolce, the term is used to describe dogs who don't like being approached by other dogs or strange people -- they need space to be comfortable. If you haven't heard of DINOS, perhaps you've heard of The Yellow Dog Project , which is making its way around Facebook in the form of a screenshot of a poster asking people with less-than-social dogs to tie yellow ribbons to their collars and leashes, as a sign that they shouldn't be approached.

BOSTON - I am driving down the coast, EZ-Passing across borders from Maine to Massachusetts, when the radio begins the day's news with a familiar bulletin: "There's been another day of violence in Iraq today." A description of suicide bombers and victims follows. Slowly, I turn to another highway distraction, counting the cars that pass me wearing ribbon magnets and decals that display the same slogan: "Support Our Troops." I automatically read "Support Our Troops" as a proxy statement for "Support Our Commander in Chief."

It was in early September 2010, and I was serving in Afghanistan, helping to plan our mission to support that country's parliamentary elections. Offhandedly, a colleague asked whether I was going to return to my civilian job when I returned home. I replied, "I don't think so. " Surprised, he asked what I planned to do instead. Confidently, I shrugged him off, "I don't know. I'm sure something will shake loose. " We returned to the Unites States in December 2010 and were assured that we were not going to be forgotten.

Editor: In my Perspective article, ''Forging Unity Takes More Than Yellow Ribbons'' (The Sunday Sun, June 30), an error occurred in the course of editing my submission.The statement that ''18-year-olds six weeks from civilian life were thrown into the breach'' is incorrect. My original draft described a Pentagon meeting at Christmastime 1944 at which it was stated that ''there is to be no publicity given to our latest measure expediting replacements'' whereby men from the armed forces were receiving only six weeks of infantry replacement training.

EVER SINCE yellow ribbons captivated the American psyche ten years ago, various observers have tried to thread the remembrance symbol as far back through American history as the Civil War. Popular sentiment likes to believe that women began tying yellow ribbons in their hair when they waited for their sweethearts to return from battle.Library of Congress researcher Gerald Parsons finds it more likely, however, that the romance of yellow ribbons comes from a John Wayne movie and an error in a Mitch Miller songbook.

Is your dog a DINOS ? The acronym hasn't quite caught on yet, but it stands for Dog in Need of Space. Coined by Maine dogwalker Jessica Dolce, the term is used to describe dogs who don't like being approached by other dogs or strange people -- they need space to be comfortable. If you haven't heard of DINOS, perhaps you've heard of The Yellow Dog Project , which is making its way around Facebook in the form of a screenshot of a poster asking people with less-than-social dogs to tie yellow ribbons to their collars and leashes, as a sign that they shouldn't be approached.

Pat Lazenby had to go all the way to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to get the pale yellow trash bags that she cuts into strips and transforms into her own version of the yellow ribbons that are proliferating on homes, businesses, buttonholes and car antennae to show support of U.S. troops in the gulf.She hasn't been able to find appropriately colored bags any closer to home, but that hasn't stopped her personal war effort, said Ms. Lazenby, a resident of Brooklyn Park who has three nephews serving in the Persian Gulf.

The yellow ribbons, those few that remain in view, are faded and tattered.The red, white and blue flag-emblazoned T-shirts are stuffed in the back of the closet, forgotten ornaments of another era.Does anyone remember the Persian Gulf War?A year ago today the war began, a war that would be played out live on television. Suddenly everyone was talking about Scuds and sorties and collateral damage. People succumbed to "CNN syndrome," remaining glued to their TVs, unwilling to miss a moment. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Gen. Colin L. Powell became instant heroes, Saddam Hussein instant enemy, and the "mother of all battles" fodder for comedians coast to coast.

Don Kelly, 55, stood and surveyed the new sign that will greet three Belair-Edison soldiers when they return home from the Persian Gulf to their northeast Baltimore neighborhood."

BOSTON - I am driving down the coast, EZ-Passing across borders from Maine to Massachusetts, when the radio begins the day's news with a familiar bulletin: "There's been another day of violence in Iraq today." A description of suicide bombers and victims follows. Slowly, I turn to another highway distraction, counting the cars that pass me wearing ribbon magnets and decals that display the same slogan: "Support Our Troops." I automatically read "Support Our Troops" as a proxy statement for "Support Our Commander in Chief."

CAMBRIDGE -- For 19 days, an entire town hoped its prayers wouldn't end as they did yesterday. When 1st Lt. Adam G. Mooney disappeared after a Jan. 25 helicopter crash in Iraq, the residents of this Eastern Shore community hung yellow ribbons around telephone poles. Shop owners extended hope on their marquees. Katie Mooney marked her and Adam's first wedding anniversary without him. And Mooney's family tried its hardest to keep his deepest wish: If anything happened to him, not to tell his 8-year-old daughter until it was certain he hadn't survived.

In 1949, John Ford and John Wayne reached a new, easy eloquence with "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," the second of Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (Fort Apache was the first, Rio Grande the last), just released on a gorgeous DVD from Warner Home Video. Wayne plays Captain Nathan Brittles, who must try to halt the spread of a vast, pan-tribal Indian war after Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn, while passing down lessons of command to his lieutenants before his impending retirement. Wayne had already played an older man in Howard Hawks' Red River, giving a portrait of psychosis in some ways as remarkable as Bogart's in John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

John Arnick is going back to Annapolis.Making a political recovery just seven months after being forced to withdraw from a District judgeship because of sexist remarks to women, the former delegate was selected by the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee last night to occupy the same seat from which he had resigned to become a judge.The committee -- voting 26-2, with two abstentions -- acted on a unanimous recommendation from the five members of the 7th Legislative District Central Committee.

The yellow ribbons, those few that remain in view, are faded and tattered.The red, white and blue flag-emblazoned T-shirts are stuffed in the back of the closet, forgotten ornaments of another era.Does anyone remember the Persian Gulf War?A year ago today the war began, a war that would be played out live on television. Suddenly everyone was talking about Scuds and sorties and collateral damage. People succumbed to "CNN syndrome," remaining glued to their TVs, unwilling to miss a moment. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Gen. Colin L. Powell became instant heroes, Saddam Hussein instant enemy, and the "mother of all battles" fodder for comedians coast to coast.

I KINDA FEEL sorry for President Bush," said Slats Grobnik, "the way he's bein' treated by all the ingrates."What ingrates are you referring to?"The ones in the polls who don't think he's doin' a great job no more."

Seven women -- all of them mothers, all but one mothers of sons -- pull their chairs in a circle and talk about the difficulty of wanting peace.Across America, there are countless support groups for relatives of troops serving in the Persian Gulf, support groups serving the needs of many who have been caught up in this war or on its fringes.But until now, say these women, who gathered for the first time yesterday in a bare room over a Baltimore restaurant, support has been hard to come by for those opposing the war."

Don Kelly, 55, stood and surveyed the new sign that will greet three Belair-Edison soldiers when they return home from the Persian Gulf to their northeast Baltimore neighborhood."

William and Sharon Rappold were invited to ride in three Independence Day parades in the county this year.But the Forest Hill couple declined the invitations. To them, the Fourth of July was just another day without their sons.The Rappolds' sons, both general enlistment Marines who served inthe Persian Gulf war, have yet to return to their regular assignments, even though the war ended four months ago.Brian, 19, has been sent to Japan, and William, 21, is posted at the Iraq-Turkey border.

The outside of Gary and Rose Llewellyn's Frostburg home, which is decorated with flags, numerous yellow ribbons, and a 12-foot long red, white and blue banner, is ready for the Fourth of July. But inside, it is still Christmas.In the living room of their Frostburg home, the 7-foot tall artificial Christmas tree is still up. It was waiting for Sergeant Llewellyn when he came home May 14 after serving eight months in Saudi Arabia with the 372nd Military Police Company, U.S. Army xTC Reserve, headquartered in Cresaptown in Allegany County.