82nd Airborne

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- On this cold, January night, Johnna Flores gathers her two children and they blow kisses to the moon."There, Daddy," whispers 6-year-old Ricardo Jr., his face turned heavenward.Seconds later, the brown-eyed boy grabs his cheek. "I just got one of Dad's kisses," he says. "Right here."Ever since Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Flores left for the Persian Gulf four months ago, his family has ended each evening on the doorstep of their modest brick home at Fort Bragg.Mrs. Flores' husband isn't a hot pilot or an infantry scout.

EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA -- Lance Cpl. Steve Schmitt had to burn his Christmas tree.The Orlando, Fla., man's family mailed him the 18-inch plastic tree to stick in the sand beside his sleeping bag. But the Marine gunner's platoon is at the front, breaking camp every few days and moving across the desert like the Bedouin who wander this land.So before they moved last time, Schmitt said the grunts of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine, burned most of the gifts and even some of the goodies that were sent by the tons from the folks back home.

Thanks to eighth-graders at Johnnycake Middle School, a lonely GI in Saudi Arabia is getting mail from home.Last month Army Pvt. Gary Gustafson, serving with the 27th Engineers, attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, wrote to USA Today complaining that he had nobody to write.Joe Selby, a social studies teacher at the Baltimore County middle school, showed the letter to a colleague, Dan Shaner, who teaches English. Mr. Shaner turned the soldier's plight into a special project for extra credit.