The Maine Troop Greeters
The given coordinates will take you to a hallway in the public area of the Bangor International Airport. (Outside of the Security area)..
Bangor International Airport has been a very special place for as long as airplanes have flown between Europe and The United States. Geography has made this place extremely important as the last, large runway in the US for flights going East and the First one in the US upon their return. Long range flights often stop here on their way to or from other places, far away. .
As US military groups go off to assignments overseas, their flights often stop at Bangor International for refueling and to clear US Customs and Immigration. The Maine Troop Greeters are here to greet them. They are "a non-profit group of veterans and men and women supporting our armed forces serving overseas by greeting troops who arrive at Bangor International Airport. Day or night, rain or shine,it is their commitment to welcome each troop home from war and give a proper send off to each of the young men and women heading overseas. They accomplish this by being here to offer free cell phones to call a loved one, a snack to keep them going, and handshakes to let them know they care. Since they began greeting flights in May of 2003, the Maine Troop Greeters have greeted over 7,637 flights with more than 1,534,549 service members and 404 military dogs. And it is their pledge that as long as there are U.S. Armed Forces serving overseas they will be here to greet them..
The hallway you are standing in is the place where over a million handshakes and hugs have taken place over the years..
In the fall of 2017, the Maine Troop Greeters opened up a museum that celebrates this special group by displaying some of the artifacts they have collected over the years. One entire wall here is covered with over 6,000 "Challenge Coins." This is likely the largest collection of challenge coins anywhere in the world! You can learn more about challenge coins by reading the display..
Your task is to locate two, particular challenge coins. Why two? One celebrates Maine and the flying unit right here at this airport known as the Maineiacs. The other celebrates a unit that I flew with a few times during my military service. Find both challenge coins and email me with the row and panel in which you found each of them. If you are correct, you get the find!.
Enjoy this remarkable place and consider, as you walk this hall, the heroes that have walked this un-remarkable carpet. Then, seek out the nearest soldier and thank them for all they have given..
Good Luck! Find these two coins: .
Placed with permission. All are welcome here, whether you are flying or not.
For more information on the Maine Troop Greeters, go to www.themainetroopgreeters.org.
Rhendy
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.