On April 28, we caught up with Lt. Heather Lane by Skype. She was in Kuwait packing to leave for Afghanistan. Among the things she communicated was an emotional account (and she is generally pretty skilled at managing her emotions) of the send off the good people of South Carolina extended to her unit as they left Camp McCrady, Fort Jackson, near Columbia.
On reflection, it was one of those times you wish you had a recorder going; no gift of words can adequately convey the gratitude in her voice and expression as she told of trainees being taken to a hangar and greeted there by a line of appreciative people, some veterans some not, waving flags, voicing their own gratitude, and sometimes giving hugs.
Heather sent the photos shown here after our call, and in her e-mail with the photos described her unit as “U.S. Narmy Saildiers: Army trained, Navy true.” She wrote of walking “to the plane through an aisle lined with volunteers holding flags. Among them, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Blue Star Mothers, VFW, American Legion, and other patrols.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to Connor Reddick. His middle name is currently a topic of much discussion (and some controversy) but we will come to a decision in the near future.