Posted on 12/17/2005 9:46:25 PM PST by george76
Minutes before tip-off of the big cross-state rivalry game, the roar of applause from the packed university arena wasn't about basketball at all.
It was about the faces on the scoreboard screen - dozens of homestate soldiers serving in Iraq who had been patched in by videoconference for a few hours to catch up with their families...
Even the soldier who was an admitted Louisville fan got cheers from the home court of the rival Wildcats - until he predicted a Cardinals victory.
"This is the best Christmas present they could receive," Gov. Ernie Fletcher told the crowd as he brought the soldiers' families out onto the Rupp Arena floor Saturday afternoon.
"It's a good way for the commonwealth to thank our soldiers for their service."
The connection was made through a program known as Freedom Calls, with most of the equipment donated from the Kentucky TeleHealth Network, which uses similar technology to link doctors with rural patients.
Before the game, some 50 families headed to the arena for their chance to have private 20-minute meetings with their soldiers in three videoconference rooms.
"What was so wonderful about it was that we could see him and he could see us," said Linda Gorton of Lexington, whose son, staff Sgt. Clayton Gorton, is at Camp Fallujah. "I actually hugged the screen."
She and her husband even sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to their son.
"It looks like your hands are dirty, Josh," said his father, David Fields, of Richmond. "Don't they have any soap?"
"My hands can't get clean, no matter what I do," the soldier explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
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