Oceanic launches new link for troops, families
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
First Lt. Mel Geronimo stopped by the Oceanic cable office in Mililani last week to get a new TV remote control, and left with one more way to stay in touch with his family while he's deployed to Iraq.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The cable company has launched its U.S. Troop Video Mail with a kiosk in Mililani and free software for Road Runner subscribers to send video to family members serving in the military overseas.
First Lt. Mel Geronimo and son Bryce, 7, check out the webcam kiosk at Oceanic Cable's offices in Mililani Tech Park. Road Runner subscribers get free software that lets them send video overseas.
The video kiosk can be accessed by military families. Families with computer-mounted webcams at home will be able to take video clips at home.
Geronimo, 40, a medical service officer with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, saw the new Oceanic offering on the news and decided to check it out with his family.
"I wanted to test it out just to show them how to use it, because they are going to be sending videos to me," the Waikele man said.
It's one more way for deployed troops to stay connected to the home front. In operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, handwritten letters have been electronically eclipsed by e-mail, satellite phones and even personal cell phones.
Laurie Naumu of Hawai'i Kai has stayed in touch with her husband, Sgt. Michael Naumu with the 411th Engineer Battalion in Iraq, via a cell phone he bought there.
"He said it makes it so much easier to call me when he has a chance, instead of going over to a (pay phone) call center," Laurie Naumu said.
Her husband paid about $200 for the phone. Phone cards with scratch-off codes are $30 to $40 for 15 to 20 minutes of talk time, but the sanity that comes with it is worth it, many say.
"It is costly, but that doesn't matter to talk to your family at times," Laurie Naumu said.
To use the video kiosk, go to Oceanic Time Warner Cable at 200 Akamainui St. in Mililani Tech Park. The office is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For information, call 625-8100. The kiosk will be in place through January. A permanent kiosk is anticipated at Schofield Barracks in mid-January.
Geronimo, an Army reservist who has a civil service information technology job at Schofield Barracks, is one of more than 1,500 Hawai'i Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers back in Hawai'i for two weeks after two months of training in Texas and New Mexico.
Video across the miles
The 3,600 soldiers of the Hawai'i Guard's 29th Separate Infantry Brigade — which includes the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, and units from California, Oregon and Minnesota — will be heading to Fort Polk, La., in early January for combat certification, and then to the Balad area north of Baghdad in February and March.
"It's great," Geronimo said of the Oceanic Time Warner Cable video e-mail. "Normally, we talk on the phone or send e-mail. Now we can see a video of them."
For Jema Geronimo, the separation from her husband already has begun with the Mainland training, but the added uncertainty of his service in a combat zone lies ahead.
Last week's bombing of a cafeteria on a U.S. base in Mosul, Iraq — in which 18 U.S. service members and civilian contractors were killed and dozens were wounded — brought home a new level of concern.
"We try not to think about those things," Jema Geronimo said, "but you can't really help it when you see it on the news."
Bandwidth in Iraq and Afghanistan varies and often is constrained, making it sometimes difficult to send and receive e-mail, but some soldiers say they have used webcams.
Jema Geronimo plans to send video of her 14-year-old daughter Breanne's volleyball games. Video would let the entire family stay in touch better, she said.
"I have a little son here who's always asking about dad," she said. Bryce Geronimo, 7, already has been asking questions that e-mailed photos or video might help answer.
"One was, 'What kind of weapon do you have, Dad?' He's a boy, yeah?" Jema Geronimo said. "Another was, 'How does Texas look?' "
The free video software provided by Oceanic is available at www.rr.com and by clicking on the "RR Benefits" icon. To use the software at home, you need a webcam.
The home program allows 45 seconds of video to be recorded. At the Mililani office, military families can send 90 seconds of video.
"It (the kiosk) is very, very neat and very, very easy to use, so even for those people that are technophobic, it's a 1-2-3 process," said Alan Pollock, vice president of marketing for Oceanic.
The Mililani kiosk will be in place through January. Pollock said by mid-January, the hope is to have a permanent video kiosk set up on Schofield Barracks.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
