Connecting Our Soldiers With The People Who Love Them
May 11, 2006
Throughout history wars have separated soldiers from their families. In past wars, soldiers’ communications with their loved ones have been sporadic at best. The miracle of the Internet is changing that for soldiers currently deployed in Iraq. State of the art web technology is being used to bridge the gap between the troops and those who love them.
Many soldiers have email access on ships and in desert outposts. Corporate sponsors and nonprofit organizations donate computers and Internet hookups to help soldiers stay in touch. Soldiers can now attend and even participate in family events such as graduations, births, anniversaries and weddings via videoconferencing.
This is especially crucial since two thirds of the two million men and women in America’s armed services are married and more than half are parents. Many are separated from their families for months at a time.
Email enables families to initiate contact instead of waiting for the phone to ring. If families back home have an emergency and need to reach a member of the military who cannot go online, families rely on the American Red Cross to relay the message via email to its field offices at 108 US military installations.
Some independent companies have developed networks independent of the military that employ Wi-Fi, Voice Over Internet Protocol telephones and Satcom technology to enable troops to communicate home free of charge.
Justin Morris attended his daughter’s kindergarten graduation last week even though he is half a world away. The miracles of videoconferencing allowed Morris, who was deployed to Iraq last September, to celebrate in “real time” with his beloved daughter.
“There are no words to describe what this meant to me. From the day that Katie was born, she and I have been extremely close. The thought of missing this important milestone in her life was very upsetting to me. Then the chaplain came to my barracks and told me he had a surprise for me.”
Not only was Morris able to watch Katie’s graduation, he was also able to have an interactive conversation with his daughter and wife after the ceremony. “I was so touched that my military colleagues understood how important this event was for me.”
Methods traditionally used by soldiers to communicate with loved ones (handwritten letters and phone calls) have been augmented or sometimes even replaced by broadband technologies.
Email and instant messaging are becoming the vehicles of choice for soldiers to let wives, husbands, sons, daughters and friends know that they are in good health and good spirits. Conversely, a soldier worried about the ailing health of a relative back home can get reassuring messages about their condition. Some families even develop websites for their soldiers so that extended family members and friends will be able to easily post messages and photographs.
Internet access is available in different ways on different bases. Most soldiers in the Middle East now have Internet cafes and military computers they can use to check emails. Some even have the option to hook their personal laptop up to an Internet connection in their trailer or tent, depending upon where they are stationed.
From their work computers, most soldiers can’t access personal pages like blogs or chat pages. If they have computers available to them through an Internet café or if they have laptops of their own, they can use any program or website they prefer.
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