When Soldiers Go to War, Flat Daddies Hold Their Place at Home

[gulliver]

Check the link. The pictures are something. It's on the front page at nytimes.com right now.

<snip>

HERMON, Me. — It was the first day of school, and distance not withstanding, 9-year-old Baylee Smith wanted to take a picture with her father, Mark, who is stationed with a National Guard unit in Afghanistan. Real daddy was not available, but Sergeant Smith’s doppelgänger was.

“Where’s Flat Daddy?” an excited Baylee asked as her stepmother, Jennifer Smith, pulled a large cardboard picture of Sergeant Smith, in his uniform, out of her Chevy Blazer and propped him on the bumper. The two, along with Ms. Smith’s young sons, Alec and Derek, posed for a picture with their Flat Daddy, who promptly fell down.

“Stop it Dad, that’s not funny. It’s not a joke,” Baylee said with a laugh.

The Maine National Guard is giving life-size from-the-waist-up pictures of soldiers to the families of deployed guard members. Guard officials and families say the cutouts, known as Flat Daddies or Flat Soldiers, connect families with a relative who is thousands of miles away. The Flat Daddies are toted everywhere from soccer practice to coffee shops to weddings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/us/30daddy.html?hp&ex=1159588800&en=ce5895e25664bc12&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[niyad]

1. why don't we just bring the REAL daddies and mommies HOME?

[AIJ Alom]

2. This is the sad reality...hopefully mom or pop make it home alive so

cardboard stand-in doesn't have to sit-in for life.