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    Communicating from the Combat Zone

    « H E Lieutenant K :: email
    posted Thursday, 16 March 2006
     I find the way soldiers communicate with their families from the combat zone very interesting. Of course, I am an amateur radio operator, an Army trained Signal Officer, and a bit of a computer geek, so I sometimes find myself talking about a project I’m working on, while the person I’m talking to gives me that “Only you think this is cool” look. Walking aimlessly around Best Buy or Radio Shack for electronics is something my wife came to dread, because she couldn’t figure out what I wanted or how much cash I planned to spend. That’s the fun part – spontaneous gadget purchases. It’s almost as nice as searching the aisles of a vintage bookstore or cozy library…almost.

        Back in the World Wars, most soldiers wrote letters, sometimes waiting months for them to make it home, much less to get one in return. Even now, with all of this technology at our disposal, we still love it when we receive a package or letter out here. You can imagine that mail call was quite an event in earlier conflicts. In a limited manner in WWII, and then more so in Vietnam, soldiers had another way to contact their families. They could make “morale calls” over a shortwave radio.   

       Amateur radio (HAM) operators are mostly hobbyists who have an interest in radios and electronics. They love nothing more than building an antenna and making long-distance radio “shots” with people all over the world. I’m experimenting right now with a huge 100 foot long antenna I'll use to relay with Europe to communicate back to Utah. Very cool. Many amateur radio operators play a vital role in emergency communications as well. You’ll find HAM operators involved in search and rescue organizations, civil air patrol, and many other important groups that aid people with communications needs.  

       HAM radio has another face. It’s called M.A.R.S., or Military Affiliate Radio System. MARS has been supporting the Army and other branches of service for decades. MARS folks have provided soldiers with “MWR” (morale welfare and recreation) calls and other support since the World Wars. You can read more about MARS history here.  A soldier would talk through a field radio, and the radio signal would “bounce” between the ionosphere and the earth’s surface across the globe to a distant location in the United States. The stateside operator could then “patch” soldiers through to a telephone land line.

       In Vietnam, you were pretty much writing letters or maybe you got the occasional morale call. In Operation Desert Storm, communications had improved dramatically. The internet hadn’t taken off yet, but the military had its own telephone system which soldiers could use to call back to the states. Also, there were phone centers where they could use pre-paid calling cards. One soldier I know who was in Operation Desert Storm told me that twice a month, a huge mobile pay-phone trailer would come through his base, and he would wait in line for two or three hours to make a 15 minute phone call. With the advent of global phone networks, the interest MARS morale calls became pretty much limited to soldiers who were HAM radio enthusiasts.

        The leap in communications between Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom was exponential. The average soldier today can communicate with his or her family in any number of ways. Here are a few examples:

    -          Military phone network (DSN)

    -          Cellular phone in some parts of Iraq (prohibited in many areas, and outrageously expensive anyway - $3.00/minute)

    -          Internet e-mail

    -          Instant messengers such as MSN and Yahoo

    -          Satellite phones

    -          AT&T phone centers

    -          Video Tele-conferences (VTC)

    -          VOIP phones (voice over internet protocol) Pretty cool technology. Depending on your bandwidth, you simply plug the phone into an internet line and can talk the same way you do on a normal land-line

    -          Web Cams

    -          Letters

    -          Care packages

    -          Video Phones

       The part of Iraq you’re in does affect your access to this technology. And a lot of soldiers still like to hand write letters regardless. I know one guy who shares a journal with his wife. He writes in it to her, and then sticks it in the mail. She reads it, replies, sends it back, and so forth. Virtually every American soldier has access to phones and internet at some time. In fact, I would be surprised if someone could tell me of a soldier serving in Iraq that has absolutely no access to phones or internet. I don’t think there are any.

        As far as my own Battalion is concerned, we have it pretty good. I manage an internet café that offers 6-8 VOIP phones and 10-14 laptops. We keep it open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also have an AT&T phone center close by. You simply walk in, sign a roster, and start communicating. There are 5 other internet cafes on our base, and soldiers are free to utilize any of them. The world has become smaller. Through digital and electronic means, a soldier anywhere in the world can send an electronic message to almost anyplace on earth. We have all these new types of communication technology, and I like kowing how to install, operate, and maintain them. As a Signal Officer, I must say that I love my job. But as you know by now, I’m a sucker for the written word, and I am compelled more by the subject of actual war letters than any amount of technology.

       Consequently, I will be presenting you with a short series dedicated to war letters, past and present, over the next few weeks. My goal is simply to counter pose actual letters written and preserved from previous wars, with fictional (or are they?) e-mails and instant messenger conversations that are the ancestors of those letters. Soldiers have served in many different climates and conflicts throughout the generations, but that longing for home - the comfort of one’s own bed and the deep rooted urge we have to wrap our arms around those we love - never changes. These things are constant, whether we’re on a Satellite phone in the Sunni Triangle, or scribbling a letter at dusk in the triple canopy jungles of Vietnam.  I hope you enjoy them.

         

     Click to Read War Letters, Part I, Part II, and Part III

     

    “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”              -Arthur C. Clarke

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    Leave comments for Captain K here: (14)


    1. NOTR left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 6:22 am

    I wrote about the differences last year in: http://rofasix.blogspot.com/2005/04/calling-home-from-vietnam-via-mars.html

    Bottom line is that it is a much much better world and one doesn't stay as isolated from family and loved ones with this comm capability. Think about it, had there been bloggers to counter the leftists in the streets in the 1970's South Vietnam would be a free country today.


    2. Saoirse left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 7:22 am :: http://saoirsec.blogspot.com/

    This is very interesting. Where were you when we did my daughters history project? Soldiers Then and Now. The comparison between a soldier in WWI and now. It was fascinating the differences, and similarities between WWI and now.

    I guess "morning Hate" still exists? We compared a typical day then and now. Wake up, roll calls, etc. Food supplies-turnip soup too "meals refused by everyone." *smiles*

    As far as communications now. Every letter we have received is saved. In a special notebook. For us it's like a part of history in the making. Its the constant positive attitude of the soldiers that is very heartening. Funny things that happen, or the usual; "well, thats the army!"

    Look forward to reading more! God Bless~


    3. devildog6771 left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 6:07 pm :: http://helloiraq.blogspot.com

    You mean you don't go dumpster searching? As a young girl one of my favorite memories was of finding an old crystal radio set. Half the stuff was missing. I mounted it all on a boaed. Then I took a piece of wire and wrapped it around a pivot. I put a metal ball with a hole in it on the other end. Then I moved the ball acros the coil to tune in a station. I never expected it to work but it did.

    During Katrina the only communications the local officials had at one pouint was provided by Hams.

    In a change of subject, I'd like your advice. I won't be offended by your answer. I got an email. This fellow wants me to write something for his blog. He apparently is inviting many others:

    "Shaun Mullen here from a small blog called Kiko's House ( http://kikoshouse.blogspot.com )."

    In your opinion, do I write well enough to do justice.I know I am no where near the writer you are ans some of the other bloggers. I was considering do it, but don't want to embarass myself. This is an important topic. I think if enough people write quality pieces an impact could be made. So what do you think. Remember, I said you won't offend my with your opinon. I asked you. Your comments can only help me improve. I value your comments. Thanks ahead of time. Also, if you are uncomfortable responding, I'll understand.

    Take care. Be safe. Thank you for your service and for being a voice in the hell fires of war.


    4. devildog6771 left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 6:11 pm :: http://helloiraq.blogspot.com

    Oh yeah, Lt. K, almost forgot, lol. I can't wait to see this project. I am sure it willl be very heartwarming. Thank you in advance.


    5. Janet left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 6:50 pm

    I cannot begin to say how much I have enjoyed this post and the promise presented for the future. I enjoyed the nuts and bolts of communications as you hgave illuminated the subject since I always enjoy learnig things, but the real heart tug is the communication between the people separated by war.

    I am one who was a letter writer during the Vietnam War where my late husband was deployed for a full tour and then later for a number of lengthy TDYs. Letters were really the only contact aside from a recourse to emergency radio calls under dire circumstances which we never qualified for fortuantely or unfortunately!! Letters came in groups and then were followed by long hiatus. "No news is good news," I was told and I came to truly believe it! But I wrote every day and sent out parcels every week, everything stored in edible popcorn, in the boxes that is! I saved every letter I received.

    I have a four year series of letters that my father's very much older, older brother, wrote home during WWI (Canadian 1914-1918). His mother saved every last one and had them wrapped in blue ribbons. He made frequent reference to her letters and less frequently to his fathers (so we knew who was the better letter writer)! I came to feel I actually knew him when I undertook to read them all in one sitting some years ago.

    I thank-you so much for this wonderful idea, LT K., which will find memories stirred for many among your readership and stirr the imagination of the others without this tie to the past.

    PS: I would add an addendum to the mention made about Vietnam By NOTR. Bloggers would have helped definately but the defining factor was the withdrawl of funds by a Democrat congress which left the South Vienamese army to die a slow death as they ran out of materials of war while their enemies were well supplied by the Soviets and the Chinese. But that is another story. Am I still bitter after this long passage of time? Well, that is an addendum to the other story!


    6. ET USN 71-78 left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 10:04 pm

    I recently found your blog and really appreciate it. Keep up the good work. There are a lot of folks back home that support all of you to the max.

    This is another excellent article and brings back many fond memories. I was in the Navy in the mid-70's in Hawaii, WestPac, the Indian Ocean and Iran. Our ability to communicate with home was often comparable to WWII: in numerous locations, we were limited to mail only, and only as our own squadron eventually carried it out to our remote detachment sites. In the few locations with phone service, calls often cost about $6.00/minute in 1970's dollars, so calls were very precious and limited.

    In addition to letters, my wife and I extensively used a method you did not list. We sent cassette tape recordings back and forth every day or two. It was a little strange to carry on one-sided conversations, imagining what the other might be saying (or thinking) in reply, and answers to specific questions would arrive several weeks (and tapes) later. There were obviously flaws in such a system, but to hear each other's voice was so reassuring and comforting.

    Before I conclude, I'd like to "second" a previous commenter regarding how important today's blogs are in getting accurate information back to the folks back home. Your blogs are making a huge impact in getting the truth out to the public, even if only a few actually read them. There are enough well-placed readers that in turn reach numerous other readers and the end result is that the MSM cannot dupe the entire nation as they once did. I also believe South Vietnam would be a free country today had we had today's communication systems. I personally observed many MSM inaccuracies decades ago that were never countered or exposed; I am so glad this will not happen again.


    7. Gypsy left...
    Thursday, 16 March 2006 10:39 pm

    Good luck with your HAM radio experiment LT K, that sounds really cool! I look forward to your series on the war letters then and now, very interesting idea.

    Take good care of yourself and stay safe Sir.


    8. Forest1 left...
    Friday, 17 March 2006 11:33 am

    I am looking forward to your series! My daughter and I have been Soldiers Angels since 2003 and I have saved all of our e-mails and photocopies of letters sent plus any write ups on the Units they served with. My daughter is 8 years old and it is my hope that when she gets older I can pass these "letters" down to her and she in turn can pass them along to her children. Thank you for your beautiful writing and for your dedicated service to our great nation!


    9. Beth* A. left...
    Friday, 17 March 2006 3:53 pm

    Neat idea for a series; will also be looking forward to it. Stay safe and well.


    10. SK left...
    Saturday, 18 March 2006 5:28 am

    Have fun with your HAM radio, that should keep you busy for a while;) I relate to the dread concerning ANY electronics store. Last time there, the salesman overheard my remark to hubby and asked me to never talk with his wife. My response to electronics, "You owe me at least 2 hours in a shoe store of my choice"! :)

    Looking forward to reading your upcoming posts, I love the old letters I've read.


    11. Soldiers Angel CJ left...
    Saturday, 18 March 2006 5:44 pm

    Just keep on writing, LT! We'll be here to keep on reading it. Hope you'll write a book sometime. Be safe. And Thank You again for doing what you do.


    12. Huntress left...
    Sunday, 19 March 2006 6:05 am

    Great idea! Looking forward to reading this series. LOVE the new banner and I am THRILLED to see your description include the word 'WRITER'.

    As I said before...there is nothing wannabe about you...you ARE a writer!

    Seems like your dispatches in the NY Times are being well received...even by those who harbour great dissent and resentment about our military and Iraq.


    13. Edo River left...
    Sunday, 19 March 2006 8:05 pm

    In the copy of the letter from WWI it was nice to see something positive said about the French.

    Regarding the communications network. This is the first major conflict I know of where civilians in another part of the world can read exchanged between soldiers and friends/family, and read civilians who are "victims" in the conflict. If anyone can read Arabic they could read blogs from Iraqi police or others?? Everyone is watching and commenting. Now all we need is a camera on the top of your helmets that transmit real time video..


    14. Mitzy left...
    Tuesday, 21 March 2006 9:24 am

    Lt. K, I have been reading your blog for a short time now and am trying to catch up on old posts (though some won’t show). I love your site...it's fantastic!

    I have to say, with out a doubt, I can relate to this post. My father in law was a communications/computer guy (both in and out of the Army), and a well known ham operator..complete with towers and repeaters. My husband followed in the same fields, though he was not nearly as active with ham radios. When we married, I was "required" to get my FCC license, which is still current. One of these years I’ll get around to joining the weather net.

    Like you, both of them would be pretty excited when they discovered something. I always got the details. Unfortunately for them, my look always elicited an "I can see you're not interested in this" comment. LOL! Eeek! Well, yes, I was, sort of, maybe if I understood what the heck they were talking about and why it was so significant!!

    But anyway, where would we be without guys like you and them? Still relying on the pen and paper only I suppose. Have fun with your tower, and when you tell us communication was a success, I promise to have a “Woohoo! It worked!” look!:)