I recently received a personal phone call from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill saying she had seen my son while visiting Iraq. She wanted to tell my wife and me that he was doing well, and to thank us for our sacrifices as parents. She then forwarded pictures her aide had taken during the visit.

Now, I am not so naive as to be unaware there was a PR benefit to all of this (the trip, the phone call, the pictures and e-mail address for future fundraising efforts). Read more…