A Virtual Homecoming

Marine Sergeant John Davidson of the 297th CTC, has been stationed in the war zone in Western Iraq for 9 months, but thanks to the virtual magic of internet technology he saw and interacted with his month-old daughter on Monday, Oct. 10th in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s videoconference room at Auburn University, compliments of the Freedom Calls Foundation.

The reunion was made possible via a videoconferencing link over the Freedom Calls network from the Freedom Calls facility at Al Asad, a base near the Syrian border in Iraq. SGT Davidson chatted with his wife, Tunitha Davidson, and his oldest daughter Reneshia for the first time in several months from a 6-foot screen.

The couple’s second child, Janecia celebrated her 1-month birthday on October 3rd.

According to the new mom, “I called the foundation and they made all the arrangements. This is a dream come true for dad to be able to see and get to know Janecia.”

William Presley, an Extension information technology specialist, assisted with the long distance link.

“This is a great service,” Presley says. “We appreciate how uniquely special and significant the birth of a baby is in the lives of parents, and so we were delighted to make these arrangements.

“We would like to thank the Freedom Calls Foundation for making this connection possible.”

John Harlow, Executive Director of the Freedom Calls Foundation, says his organization is working to transform “a longstanding family communication paradigm in time of war by enabling soldiers in the war zone to attend and participate in milestone family events like weddings, first communions and new births, etc.”

Moreover, he says the video links enable soldiers “to keep their commitments to their families at the same time they keep their commitment to their country.”

Harlow says his foundation’s long-term vision is to see that America’s fighting men and women will be able to return home from a day on the battlefield and spend virtual time with their family every night using state-of-the-art technology.

“Without the contribution by community citizens like Extension, we could not execute our mission,” Harlow says.

Davidson is only the latest of thousands deployed military personnel benefiting the network, which Freedom Calls built in cooperation with the Army and Marines.

The Freedom Calls Foundation is a public charity building a communications network dedicated to providing state of the art video conferencing, telephone and internet services to enable troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep in touch with their families and loved ones at home. The Foundation provides services to more than 30,000 soldiers and marines free of charge 24 hours per day and the Army has requested that the foundation install 8 additional facilities in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan in the coming months.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at October 11, 2005 05:16 PM