Flat Daddies

A cutout of Lt. Col. Holbrook with his sons
Going around the Web today is the discovery of "Flat Daddies." Daddy is extremely quiet because he (or she) is a foam cutout of a picture of a soldier (from the waist up) away in Iraq, or Afghanistan. The Maine National Guard has provided life size color photos of these soldiers for their families. That way, Mom and kids can take Flat Dad along to the grocery store or the kids' soccer game or sit him up at the dinner table. I think the families don't know how long they'll have to settle for their Flat Daddy instead of the real one, because the Pentagon keeps asking these soldiers to return to combat for years. Can these be for real? These cutouts would be despicable, if they weren't so weird and sad.