Attached is a photo taken of my son in the Atlanta airport. Although the picture is not the greatest, if you look close you will see a smile on his face. The story behind this photo is really positive. My son , SGT Chris Liechty, had spent 7 months in a bad part of Iraq. In early April he was allowed two weeks leave back in the "real" world. On April 12 we (Dad, Mom, and brother) took him to the Indianapolis airport for his flight to Atlanta where a military charter would take him back to Iraq. At the airport in Indy, Chris gave us the news that he was being extended for another three months and had seven months left in Iraq not the four that we were expecting. Obviously this news was very depressing to all of us. He had found out just the evening before.
While waiting at the airport for his plane to leave we noticed a group of young women waiting for the same plane. Several were wearing t-shirts that said, "St Henry Cheerleaders." We said our goodbyes and our very depressed son boarded his plane. After that we started back towards our home in Evansville. Several hours later we received a call from our son in Atlanta. He was in much better spirits and told us what had turned his attitude around. After deplaning in Atlanta, he started walking down the concourse heading for the US Army sign-in station when he heard a woman's voice say, "Hey, Army guy!" He turned around and one of the group of young women asked if they could take a picture of the group with him. Of course he said yes. Suddenly he had four babes to his left and four to his right. He told us that he could not help himself, he started to smile.
The next week, my wife and I tracked down the school. It is St Henry High School in St Henry, Ohio. We called and thanked the group for what they had done. They sent us this photo and asked for his address in Iraq. They are now collecting for a "care" package and will send it along with more photos of the cheerleaders. From left to
