Troops and Families Honored in Special Fox Sports Midwest Cardinals Broadcast

Missouri National Guard Sgt. Herbert Lins didn’t have to use Skype to see his wife and son Friday night.

Watching the Cardinals-Reds game from Afghanistan with the rest of his troop, Lins caught a glimpse of wife Natalie and 3-year-old son Clayton holding up signs for him in the crowd.

“I just got a text saying he saw us on TV,” Natalie Lins said.

Natalie and Clayton were among some 250 family members and friends of the 1138th Transportation Company, who gathered together at Busch Stadium to honor and support their loved ones at the fourth This One’s For You telecast from FOX Sports Midwest.

FOX Sports Midwest put cameras with the 1138th Transportation Company from Jefferson Barracks while they watched the game, which started at 4:30 a.m. local time in Afghanistan. 

“Obviously what they do for us over there, you can’t thank them enough,” said Cardinals third baseman David Freese, who thanked the troops by hitting a home run Friday night. “That’s hard for them to be away from their families. It’s pretty incredible that their families are here at the game and the fact that they get to watch us over there.

“Hopefully we let helped them take their minds off things for a little bit, but obviously what they do over there, we can’t thank them enough.”

Several members of the group were interviewed during the broadcast, allowing their family and friends back home the chance to catch a rare glimpse of them. The and officially deployed in June.

Technology allows Natalie and Herbert to exchange text messages on occasion. They have slowed since their first bill, which was almost $1,000. They also are able to chat on Facebook and via a satellite phone, but the majority of their communication is with Skype.

When Lins and his unit are away on a mission, Natalie won’t hear from him for a week.

“It’s horrible,” Natalie said. “I just sit and wait and wait and count the days and wait for him to call. We’ve been pretty lucky. I think the longest was about a week and a half and that was really hard because you come to expect that call after about a week, and when it doesn’t come, you start to panic a little bit more. He calls when he can. With the time difference and everything it’s a little tough.”

The 170 soldiers of the 1138th Transportation Company were headquartered in St. Louis at historic Jefferson Barracks. They use heavily-armored equipment to provide convoy security and supply distribution to coalition forces while in Afghanistan.

Also recognized on Friday night’s broadcast was the Missouri National Guard Agribusiness Development Team V, who had their taped greetings shown to family and friends.

Clayton has yet to understand why his dad isn’t there to tuck him in at night. And he won’t understand it when he’s not there for Christmas. Like many of the friends and family members in attendance, being without their loved ones until next May is a difficult challenge.

“It’s awful,” Natalie said. “Every night it’s, ‘I want my daddy, I miss my daddy.’ Even getting to Skype with him and get to talk to him on the phone, it’s just not the same.

“I think he’s starting to understand it now. We have a big world map on his wall so he knows where St. Louis is and he knows where Afghanistan is. We try to explain the difference in the time. He just learned the days of the week and we’re working on the months now. I’m explaining to him that it’s going to be a very long time. His birthday is in November and with that and Christmas coming up, that’s going to be tough on him.”

It may be tough. But nights like Friday night allowed family and friends to come together, many meeting for the first time, to show support for those they love.

“It was very important that we were here,” Natalie said. “We went out and bought our tickets as soon as we heard about it. It’s nice to be able to all gather together and be able to show our support.”

The 1138th Transportation Company is tentatively scheduled to return home in May.

See video from the game courtesy of Fox Sports Midwest