Chris is heading home....

Got a call today from Chris from Washington, DC. His flight outa there was delayed, so Mario and I had some time to talk with him about his impressions of the experience he has just had. I believe his eyes have been opened very wide concerning the work of the US Military in the world. To use his words, "The world is so much bigger than Illinois or Arizona." I believe he has great admiration for our military and what they are doing in all the areas he had the opportunity to see over the past 8 days. I look forward to seeing the DVD he will receive that has 1200 photographs taken by 2 professional military photographers who accompanied the group. He will share what he has learned in many ways when he gets home, and that is the idea. He met the President of the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild in the group, as well as a big Hollywood producer who made Charlotte's Web and the Duck movies to name a few. Good that some Hollywood people were there. He said the group ran the gamut from far left to far right. He has an idea to try to put together a trip of SIUE soccer players to go where he was in Honduras or Columbia or somewhere for a humanitarian/public relations soccer trip like Mario got to do when he was at Quincy College. And I think the most important thing I heard him say in that hour is that everywhere they went, Americans were loved, respected, and welcomed, unlike what we are led to believe by our press these days. So he will get back to Yuma sometime in the next 24 hours, and that is a relief for this mom!