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As someone who was deployed when phone calls home were a monthly occurence and mail to & from home was a 2-3 week transit time, I found this article amazing & wanted to share it.
AT FORT CAMPBELL, KY. Emily Franks was playing with her toddler when a soldier called from Afghanistan with devastating news. A massive roadside bombing had killed five soldiers from her husband's 120-man infantry company. The soldier was calling Franks, who was at the center of a wives' support network, in violation of a military-imposed communications blackout on the unit.
The last paragraph of the article (about the sedan) touched a nerve with me. I totally remember every time my husband was deployed and it had been a while since hearing from him, I would turn the corner and hold my breath til I could see there was no official vehicle outside of my house. It made me crazy. You say you wont' or don't do it, but then you find yourself doing it. Even in the past five years, the advances in communication are amazing. I have a friend who Skypes with her husband on a more than weekly basis, and does online chat usually at least once a day. I remember 15 minute morale calls and a few emails per week, and the old ladies would tell me how lucky I was and tell me their stories of no communication.
As someone who was deployed when phone calls home were a monthly occurence and mail to & from home was a 2-3 week transit time, I found this article amazing & wanted to share it.
Thanks for sharing. I retired from the Army in 1990 with 22 years. There was no Internet (so to speak), no cell phones, or at least not in the early days and communication was primarily through the US Mail, which could be slow, you ask a question in a letter and you may not receive a reply for two weeks. I did not have any "Deployments", they were called short tours (12 or 13 months overseas with your family not with you) or TDY which I had plenty of for several years. Phone service was expensive about $12 per minute in 1972 from Korea to U.S. and you had to wait at the Korean Post Office to wait your turn to get a phone booth. Etc...
That article gave me chills. I remember being terrified of waking up in the morning as that meant notificatio ns could begin. I remember one morning a car stopping in our drive & I almost went out there screaming "Do you know how scared I am!!!! get out of my driveway!!" I hated, beyond hated, seeing our FRGs ph number show up on caller id. FB was not around during my dh's deployment & he had extremely limited email access. I am almost glad he did as if he had frequent access, I would have been even more of a nervous wreck.
Kudos to families in the past & now. Prayers for strength.
FB was not around during my dh's deployment & he had extremely limited email access. I am almost glad he did as if he had frequent access, I would have been even more of a nervous wreck.
I think this "instant access", while sometimes a boon, can also be a bad thing. Knowing we got that once a week (and sometimes not) 15 min phone call meant that once we talked, I could get on with my week and back to my routine, and so could he. I think the daily chats/skypes/calls can be rough and set up expectations that can be difficult to meet. Even when mine is tdy here in the states we only talk a couple of times per week for a few minutes. We are both busy.
And people do get really upset sometimes if they see their honey playing online games or having fb activity but they haven't emailed/chatted/etc with them. And it creates drama. Even the most understanding person can feel bad that their spouse prefers to unwind with a video game instead of talking to them, even if they know why.
Thanks for sharing. I retired from the Army in 1990 with 22 years. There was no Internet (so to speak), no cell phones, or at least not in the early days and communication was primarily through the US Mail, which could be slow, you ask a question in a letter and you may not receive a reply for two weeks. I did not have any "Deployments", they were called short tours (12 or 13 months overseas with your family not with you) or TDY which I had plenty of for several years. Phone service was expensive about $12 per minute in 1972 from Korea to U.S. and you had to wait at the Korean Post Office to wait your turn to get a phone booth. Etc...
Yes, an interesting article...
i read my wife personal diary after she had passed for i was boxing up some of her things to give to the kids and i found it ....there where a few spots that bought tears to my eyes after reading some of the passages there about the waiting for the mail to come and when a letter did not come that day when i was on a short overseas tour and the lonelyness that she had felt when i was gone on the short tours ..
i felt so guilty of not writeing everyday to her after reading those passages in her dairy ..so i try to email my kids who are in the services in diff places at least every other day to say something to them ..
i remember Korea as allways as a short tour in my day in the middle to late 70s era for single guys or if married you have to be there at least for two or more years then you got to bring the family with you on the tour
I think this "instant access", while sometimes a boon, can also be a bad thing. Knowing we got that once a week (and sometimes not) 15 min phone call meant that once we talked, I could get on with my week and back to my routine, and so could he. I think the daily chats/skypes/calls can be rough and set up expectations that can be difficult to meet. Even when mine is tdy here in the states we only talk a couple of times per week for a few minutes. We are both busy.
And people do get really upset sometimes if they see their honey playing online games or having fb activity but they haven't emailed/chatted/etc with them. And it creates drama. Even the most understanding person can feel bad that their spouse prefers to unwind with a video game instead of talking to them, even if they know why.
Excellent post, Lisdol! I was stationed at Kwang Ju, South Korea in the mid-'70s. We had MARS radio telephone access to the U.S. every day. (There's nothing like trying to be flirty with your sweetie back home and having to say "over" to signal the end of your transmission while two ham operators flipped switches to let her speak...) As much as I cared for her, being able to talk every day was almost too often. I mean, just how much excitement can a base with only 180 G.I.s assigned generate? In some ways, we did have it better back in the "old days"...
(There's nothing like trying to be flirty with your sweetie back home and having to say "over" to signal the end of your transmission while two ham operators flipped switches to let her speak...)
For those not familiar with MARS, "The Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) is a United States Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force. The program is a civilian auxiliary consisting primarily of licensed amateur radio operators who are interested in assisting the military with communications on a local, national, and international basis as an adjunct to normal communications.". It was originally formed in 1925 and still exists. More on the history and past/present missions: Military Auxiliary Radio System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
i made a couple calls useing the MARS system and one of the convestions i remember the most was trying to tell my wife the combation for the safe in our bedroom that she need to get into because of all the paperwork she need was in the safe ..i was standing in a room of full people and saying over on the end of each sentences i was trying to tell her useing the MARS system ..
she goes ok and i asked her for the numbers to be read back to me again and i tell her to change the lock numbers after she gets into the safe..then goes why should i change for i told we had just told everyone with a radio the safe combation lock numbers ..she goes ok says i love you and i say i love you over..
then when i got home she was asking me why did i keep saying over in the convestion ..she goes you mean everyone heard us talking in the radio room i go yes and she goes i guess they think iam pretty dumb ..no this happens alot when the guys on overseas tours a lot ..so it normal for them to hear storys like ours ..
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) As much as I cared for her, being able to talk every day was almost too often. I mean, just how much excitement can a base with only 180 G.I.s assigned generate? In some ways, we did have it better back in the "old days"...
