ON THE HOME FRONT
E-mail links troops to family, friends
| • | Special report: Dispatches from Iraq |
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
As a veteran of five deployments, Vicki Olson, wife of Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, commander of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) and U.S. Army, Hawai‘i, knows firsthand the importance of families staying connected.
Communication has changed dramatically since the time in 1990 when her husband, a battalion commander in Operation Desert Storm, lived for 60 days in a trench, and she had no hope of reaching him other than to send a written letter and pray it actually got there.
“We did not even know where they were,” Olson recalled. “Things have changed for the better since then, because there are so many options.”
For example, a recently initiated Adopt-A-Platoon program serves as a go-between for soldiers in the Middle East and concerned civilian groups eager to accommodate an individual soldier’s needs — be they intricate care packages or ordinary, hand-written letters.
“And by the way,” Olson said, “snail mail is still important because it gives the recipient something he or she can hold. That means something to them.”
Words of care and concern are often the single most important thing on the minds of far-away soldiers, she said. And it doesn’t particularly matter how they arrive. The biggest breakthrough in family-to-soldier communications comes via the information superhighway.
“Now, we have e-mail,” she said.
The Internet provides another way to stay in touch with the 4,500 troops from Schofield Barracks headed for Iraq, and the 4,000 more who will leave soon for Afghanistan.
An outpouring of support began almost the moment The Advertiser's "Dispatches from Kuwait" Web site launched its Share Your Aloha message board early Sunday morning.
Handfuls of sentiments to Hawai‘i’s soldiers deployed in the Middle East quickly turned to dozens. Within 2 1/2 days, the message count was at more than a hundred, and accelerating.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said media relations officer Capt. Kathy Turner at Schofield Barracks. “We’re getting feedback from people, and they’re pretty excited. We’ve linked the Web site to our division Web site with a message saying, ‘Hey, did you know this exists ?’ so that families can keep track.
“Before, it was physical mail. Now, it’s e-mail — Internet-generation mail — that’s kicking in.”
And it was kicking in with feelings from wives, husbands, fathers, mothers-in-law, chums, total strangers, and at least one infant: Mahkaylah Mehlhoff wished that her daddy, Sgt. Jason T. Mehlhoff, “could be here for my first birthday.”
“I’m sending this msg. from my heart, (and) I want to wish my husband Sgt. Isaia, and all of the brave soldiers the best of luck as they begin this long journey to Iraq,” wrote “Proud Army Wife” Deborah Isaia, who added that “The Wolfhound Wives will be praying for them all.”
“Aloha to Brandon Townsend and the men of Bravo Co., 1/27,” wrote Ken Townsend of Myrtle Beach, S.C. “Take care of yourselves. We’re thinking of you and wishing the best for you. Good hunting.”
Sonya Bray posted her message of love at 1:11 a.m., Monday.
Bray had last heard from her husband two days earlier when he called from Kuwait to say his unit would be rolling out Tuesday and heading toward northern Iraq, a journey of 600 miles. He said she probably wouldn’t be hearing from him for a while.
So, when she discovered the Share Your Aloha link, Bray dropped her husband a little greeting to let him know that she, 9-year-old Megan and 5-month-old Madison were thinking of him.
“The girls and I love you, and we will continue to pray for you and your unit every day,” read Bray’s first communication.
It would not, she promised, be the last.
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
