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Netflix in Iraq: How VoIP, Skype, and webcams connect soldiers and their families
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Read Part I: My very dear Sarah
Read Part II: Little things, amplified: The view from home
Part III: "One hundred percent a soldier."
Dramatic technological advances have made it possible for deployed soldiers to stay connected to their families, even during wartime. To understand better the importance of access to easy communication with those on the home front, I spoke to a retired military officer with command experience. The officer, who is identified with a pseudonym to protect his family, served in Iraq in 2005.
Dramatic technological advances have made it possible for deployed soldiers to stay connected to their families, even during wartime. To understand better the importance of access to easy communication with those on the home front, I spoke to a retired military officer with command experience. The officer, who is identified with a pseudonym to protect his family, served in Iraq in 2005.
When he shipped out to Iraq, Lt. Col. Joseph Frederick had just met the woman who would become his wife.
Being a soldier, Frederick’s primary concern was completing his mission in the face of enemy fire.
Being human, there was a desire to stay in contact with those he left behind.
Just a few decades ago, Frederick might have gone weeks or months without hearing from his family and friends. However, the modern troop is connected more than ever before.
“We were very lucky, because in our situation we had VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephones, so we had Internet-based protocol phones,” said Frederick. “They were based off a hub in New Jersey, so we had New Jersey phone numbers while we were in Iraq. That enabled us to have our folks call directly to us in case of emergency. So in my office, we would set aside time after work hours for families to call.”
Soldiers rarely experience the type of familial disconnect suffered by those who served in past wars.
“We were fortunate to be in an office environment, so we had our own [telephones],” said Frederick. “The average soldier had to sign up. They go into a big trailer with all of the com equipment in it. There were telephones they would dial up.”
Even men in the thick of battle are cut off only temporarily from the outside world.
“They would come back to the support base we were at and use our facilities,” Frederick said. “If they were in the field, they didn’t have any way to call home. But, usually they would be at a support base where there would be some sort of an Internet hookup.”
“In addition to the phone trailers, there are also Internet cafes set up at operating bases where soldiers can go in and use a computer.”
The proliferation of modern technology has reduced – but not eliminated - the amount of time soldiers have to wait to hear a friendly voice.
“In the Air Force, I would be surprised if it were more than a couple of days,” said Frederick. “In the Army, it could be a week or more. In the Marines, it could be longer than that. Still, even some of our most remote FOBs (forward operating bases) had Internet connections.”
Procedures have long been in place to handle emergency communication with home. Now, even the more mundane distractions can be quickly resolved.
“It’s when the checkbook doesn’t balance, or the kids get sick, it’s the things that don’t make the threshold of emergencies that are much harder to manage,” said Frederick.
“There is only so much you can do with a webcam. The good news is, you can have the conversation you would have around the dinner table, about the bills. In Vietnam, you couldn’t do that. Now you can.”
Even with the availability of Skype, VoIP, and webcams, the postal system still plays an important part in the life of the troops.
“There is a very robust mail system,” Frederick said. “A lot is brought in by contract carriers. The turnaround time for cards and letters is about a week. I would get packages within ten days, usually. There were guys who had Netflix in Iraq.”
Frederick says that, like Sullivan Ballou, some soldiers still write cards and letters home. Just not as much.
“I assume some of them do,” Frederick said. “I think it’s dropped dramatically.”
For officers, it can be difficult to find a balance between allowing their men too much and not enough outside contact.
“There are two schools of thought,” said Frederick. “If they don’t have those conversations, then they’re [more] focused on the mission.”
“You’ll see [communication] switched off at some times. For instance, if a unit experiences a casualty, they will sometimes switch outside communication down over Internet and phone until official notification has been made. They don’t want that information coming from an email. They want it coming through the right notification channels.”
“On the other hand, soldiers are human beings, and if I’m a soldier worrying about whether or not the appointment with the doctor for the kids went well, or his mind is somewhere else, then he isn’t one hundred percent a soldier.”
Contact with the States also allows service men and women to do more than just catch up on the day's events.
“I bought a house from Iraq,” Frederick said. “That I never saw in person. I arranged all the banking and arranged to sign all the contracts. I looked at all the pictures of the house, I did the virtual tour. I did that all online.”
“The ability to do that removed a great deal of stress that I otherwise would have been concerned with while I was there. So, it allowed me to do both things.”
Perhaps the most important benefit soldiers realize from new technologies is the ability to reassure loved ones that they are safe.
“I was able to send email notes home,” Frederick said. “I think that’s a tremendous upside.”
“Today’s news cycle is so compressed, that news of ‘unnamed casualties’ is transmitted within minutes or hours via 24 hour television news. It is important to have the ability to reassure your family with the news of your safety in a timely manner as well.”
“I know I would go on a mission, and if something happened in our area that day and there was a casualty, then no one is at ease until you get that email that says ‘I’m back and everything is fine.’ In past wars, you would have to wait weeks and months for that.”
That accessibility can also hinder a mission.
“The downside is the expectation of communication from the family at home is also elevated now, and as time passes after an event with no news, uncertainty and concern elevate much more rapidly than in past wars because the loved ones have grown accustomed to real time personal updates from the field as well,” said Frederick.
Frederick believes that despite the potential for distraction, the ability to stay in touch is beneficial to maintaining morale.
“Everything is trade-offs,” said Frederick. “But I think overall it’s good. Before, it was impossible it manage resources. Now…you can do 95 percent of what you do from home over the Internet, from a deployed location.”
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