rumbleph1$h Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 Soldiers in Iraq get to see kids graduate on screen The Associated Press - HINESVILLE, Ga. Graduation season in this military town can be bittersweet for solider parents. When moms and dads are away at war, they miss the day when their graduates turn their tassels and pick up the diploma. That's changing, if only a little, in Hinesville this year, home to Fort Stewart and the often-deployed 3rd Infantry Division. When two local high schools hold graduation ceremonies this Saturday, they'll have 30-foot screens set up with a video hookup to soldiers serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The long-distance ceremony means a lot to Staff Sgt. Orlando Lee Jr., who didn't get to see his son march at his high school graduation two years ago because of the war. This year, Lee will get to see younger son Zaccre Smith finish high school. "I know he's real proud of me. He'll be happy getting to see it," said Smith, who also joins the Army on May 25. Last weekend, families of deployed soldiers with students about to graduate had the chance to talk to them via video. In a small building that is ordinarily a locker room for Liberty County High School's football team, they gathered and waited their turn to enter a tiny room with two TV monitors and a small camera. One monitor shows them. The other shows their loved one in Iraq. Each family got 30 minutes. Families' time in the suite was based on when the soldiers were available. "We opened it up to all graduating seniors _ anyone whose parent is deployed to Iraq, any soldier who wanted to participate," said Capt. Joseph Christadore of the division's rear detachment. The weekend teleconference was a chance for Sandra Hamrick with the 92nd Engineer Battalion to see her daughter Lindsay, who is almost 3 years old. Like Lee, this is also Hamrick's second deployment. The first time, she left when Lindsay was 4 months old and came back when her daughter was 11 months. Hamrick's younger sister, Katherine Kunda, graduates from high school this weekend. It was Kunda's first chance to see her sister since she deployed Jan. 31. "I'm always working when she calls, so we never have time to talk," Kunda said. Sgt. 1st Class Terence Green said the videoconferencing makes war a little easier to bear. "I've been there in that position," he said. "The enhancement to morale, words can't describe it. It can carry a soldier for a few extra months. You can't beat it, seeing it in real time. And even from this end, to watch the parents and the kids, it speaks volumes to watch the reactions." http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfu...ry.asp?ID=60821 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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