Free Republic

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- It's late on a Saturday night, you're thumbs-deep in helping fight off another swarm of enemy soldiers. While listening to your teammates give instructions through a headset, the mission is accomplished with help from halfway around the world. This is how Tyler Wilson, 9-year-old son of Master Sgt. Robert Wilson, 39th Security Forces Squadron, keeps in touch with his friends and family. Wilson plays combat games online with his distant friends and family members, using headsets to talk to one another. "I talk to my uncle a lot more during games than I do on...

MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Hotaru Ferschke just wants to raise her 8-month-old son in his grandparents' Tennessee home, surrounded by photos and memories of the father he'll never meet: a Marine who died in combat a month after marrying her from thousands of miles away. Sgt. Michael Ferschke was killed in Iraq in 2008, leaving his widow and infant son, both Japanese citizens, in immigration limbo: A 1950s legal standard meant to curb marriage fraud means U.S. authorities do not recognize the marriage, even though the military does. Ferschke and his bride had been together in Japan for more than a...