SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTION – The Sabers – the 4-3 Air Defense Artillery, Headquarters Battery – shown in Tikrit, Iraq -- will be welcomed home to their base in Germany early next year by letters from Southeastern and Southeastern Lab School students.

ENCOURAGING THE TROOPS -- Southeastern Lab School sixth grade teacher Cindy Faller compliments Jessica Holmes on the letter she wrote to one of the Sabers, an Army batter with Southeastern connections, currently stationed in Iraq. Jessica encouraged the Sabers to “remember happy memories” to combat holiday blues.

SOUTHEASTERN, LAB SCHOOL STUDENTS SEND CHEER TO SOLDIERS IN IRAQ
      HAMMOND – Students at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Southeastern Laboratory School are sending “a little piece of home” to soldiers who will be returning in early 2005 to their base in Germany after a year in war-torn Iraq.
      The students have written letters to the soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 4-3 Air Defense Artillery, Headquarters Battery, in Tikrit, Iraq. Known as “the Sabers,” the 80 men and 20 women, many single and in their early 20s, provide security for the Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit. Their duties include running convoys and providing “early warning” aerial radar pictures of specific regions in Iraq.
      The letter writing campaign evolved from the Sabers’ Southeastern family connection. 
Sabers Capt. Mark Bird of Baton Rouge is a former student, as is his wife Christa, who is part of the battery’s Family Support Group at its base in Germany. And on the home front, Christa’s sister Laura Crafton is a Southeastern education graduate student and mother Beth Calloway is a member of the English Department faculty.
      When Christa Bird asked her family for help in collecting letters and other goodies to welcome the battery back to Germany, Crafton and Calloway were eager to help. 
      “The idea is to send thanks and appreciation to these young soldiers from all over the United States who will be returning from Iraq to empty barracks in Germany,” Crafton said. “They will have come from a foreign country, after having risked their lives, to another foreign country. Our goal is to send a little piece of home to them in hopes of making their return from war more cheery and a little less lonely.”
      Calloway asked the students in her four English composition classes if they wanted to participate, while Crafton made the same appeal to Lab School junior high teachers Cindy Faller, Heidi Rhea and Dorothy Boyette. 
      As a result, the mother and daughter now have gathered approximately 170 letters, which Calloway will hand-carry to Germany in mid-December. 
      More than 60 Lab School students wrote their letters, appropriately, on Veteran’s Day. In Faller’s sixth grade class on Nov. 11, the students were busy personalizing each message with red-white-and-blue artistic flair. Some addressed their faraway recipients as “Dear Hero.”
      “It’s almost Christmas,” said Kelsey Bittola. “They don’t get to see their families, but maybe we can bring them some happiness.” 
      “It’s time for them to have some joy in their life,” Crystal Gonzales agreed. 
      Recalling her own sadness while away from home during a holiday, Jessica Holmes said she encouraged her solider to “remember happy memories.”
      Calloway brought her students flag-decorated stationary and envelopes for their letters. In her own letter, she told the Sabers how her students had reacted to an assigned essay debating whether World War II’s generation was the “Greatest Generation.”  
      “A number of them wrote, yes that generation should be called great, but maybe not the ‘greatest,’” Calloway recounted. “A number of them discussed the sacrifices your generation is now making in Iraq and in other countries around the world.”
      In addition to his letter, student Todd Calmes of Hammond, a Navy veteran who manages the photography department at Sears in Hammond Square Mall, was able to make a special contribution, thanks to his employer. As part of a nationwide project to support American troops, Sears photo customers at each store are invited to include one of their prints, along with a personal note, in scrapbooks that will be forwarded to military units overseas.
      Calmes said he originally planned to send his store’s book to a buddy who is still in the Navy, but has now turned it over to Calloway to take to Germany. 
      The letters penned by Calloway’s classes reflected the students’ gratitude, admiration and prayers for the troops.
      “I am glad you are willing to serve to provide security and safety for people like me in uncertain times,” one student wrote.
      Another wrote, “You have sacrificed your lives, your freedoms, your family and friends and all the accommodations this country has to offer so that we can continue to live the lives we are accustomed to. Who could ask for more?”
      “I would never be brave enough to do what you do and can’t even imagine what you’re going through,” a third student said. 
      Crafton said the Sabers plan to write back. “The troops in Iraq are planning certificates, letters, and pictures to personally thank all of those involved,” she said. 
      She said other members of the campus or community who want to send letters can contact her at laracc@I-55.com.