Here is a story that is touching, heartbreaking, and a little bit funny just in time for Thanksgiving.

I was an inter-collegiate debater throughout my years as an undergraduate; in spite of that, I wish I had been 1/3 as articulate as the "college kids" from Swarthmore who crank out War News Radio on a weekly basis. If you only listen to one podcast a week, this should be the one.

As War News Radio's Peter Holm reports (that's a link to an mp3 file, by the way), the Maine National Guard has devised a curious means of lessening some of the separation anxiety felt by the families of members of the service deployed in our global adventure. They take a photograph of the soldier, and blow it up to make a life-size cutout which is given to the family. Holm shares the voices of service members' families who talk about how they've integrated the Flat Soldiers into their daily lives. It's a touching reminder of what so many families will be missing this year from their Thanksgiving Dinner tables.

Check out the Maine National Guard's Family Assistance Center and their gallery of photos of "Flat Soldier Sightings."

Happy Turkey Day to everyone out there, but especially to everyone who can't make it home, and to everyone in the home they can't make it back to.