Morning Express with Robin Meade

We were thrilled to be a part of a special surprise this morning for Sergeant 1st Class Casandra Sanders.

Sgt. Sanders is one of the 70,000 American service members who are single parents. Her two daughters Kiera and Jade have already been away from their mom during a deployment to Kuwait in 2005. Now the family is facing a second deployment, possibly to Afghanistan next year... so in order to make sure they get as much together-time as possible before that happens we teamed up with Operation G.I. Jane, an organization that provides support for single moms who serve in the military.

Talk about putting your music where your mouth is. Little Big Town played for the Troops in Afghanistan. So glad to have them on the set to salute the troops.

You can see more of our interview with Little Big Town right here.

If you'd like to take part in "The Big Thank You" here are the guidelines (or visit thebertshow.com for full details):

LETTER FORMAT:
Each letter should be heartfelt, handwritten, original, and free of any political statements. The purpose of the letter is to express thanks to the military personnel currently deployed outside the United States. We reserve the right to eliminate those messages that are political in nature and do not reflect a positive message in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Those letters will be destroyed.

This is a salute from singer/actor Tyrese Gibson. We caught up with Tyrese at the BET Hip Hop Awards here in Atlanta last weekend.

Tyrese plays USAF Chief Master Sergeant Robert Epps in the “Transformers” films.

This is a salute from Therese Anderson to her niece Captain Vanessa Zaragoza, U.S. Air Force.

Therese writes:
Robin,
My niece is in Kabul, Afghanistan serving as a Captain for the United States Air Force. We love her very much and we salute her hard work and we are very proud of her.

Alesha Payne welcomes home her daughter, Sr. Airman Carmisha Gifford, USAF, home.

Submit a salute of your own by visiting the special Morning Express with Robin Meade Salute To Troops assignment page at: iReport.com!

These are some of the first faces our military men and women see when they arrive home from deployment. To learn how you can be a part of the USO visit their website: uso.org

Submit a salute of your own by visiting the special Morning Express with Robin Meade Salute To Troops assignment page at: iReport.com!

We are so thrilled to be part of this incredibly special moment. Senior Airman Keith Graft and Senior Airman Domenic Mash surprised their wives and MET their new babies today, LIVE on HLN's Morning Express with Robin Meade! It took about 6 weeks of planning to pull this off, and judging by the lack of dry eyes in the studio... it was worth it!

Thanks to the United States Air Force Reserve Command for helping make this reunion possible!

This is a salute from Julia Jones to her son 1st Lieutenant Thomas Jones, U.S. Air Force.

Julia writes:
I'd like to salute my son, 1st Lt. Thomas Jones, USAF. He is serving our country at this time, in the hot, hot desert. He is, and always has been an outstanding son, and I am more proud of him than words can say. The job he is doing is a huge service to our country, but more importantly, to the troops he is called on to support and care for when the need arises. We miss him, and cannot wait till the day we can hug him and tell him face to face THANK YOU FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY. We love you.

Submit a salute of your own by visiting the special Morning Express with Robin Meade Salute To Troops assignment page at: iReport.com!