Posted on: Monday, July 12, 2004

Cell phones let soldiers keep home ties strong

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Sherri Miral tries not to call her husband on his cell phone when he's at work.

He's pretty busy in a war zone in Iraq, after all.

But in a sign of changing technological times, the 'Ewa Beach woman can do just that.

Sgt. Larson Miral, a Honolulu police officer and Army reservist deployed to the Baghdad area with the 411th Engineer Battalion, is one of a growing number of U.S. soldiers taking advantage of relatively new cell-phone service to phone home.

It isn't perfect.

"Sometimes it can be really frustrating," Sherri Miral said. "The connection can be awful. He'll say something and then it gets all jibber-jabber."

He'll move, find a better spot, and try again in a war- zone version of "Can you hear me now?"

"I'll tell him, 'OK, turn back around, stand on one foot, put one arm in the air,' " she said, laughing.

Sometimes, though, it sounds "just like he's down the street."

Deployed soldiers are more than happy to do the cell-phone Funky Chicken if it means they can talk for a few minutes with their wife and kids.

Long gone are the days of World War II when a letter was the only form of communication from the front.

E-mail, available shipboard at the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001, now is being eclipsed on the battlefield by the spontaneity of the ubiquitous cell phone.

Dan Senor, the former Coalition Provisional Authority senior advisor in Iraq, in early February announced that Iraqna had launched the first mobile telephone service in central Iraq, and was investing more than $100 million in the first year to build infrastructure.

"As far as the roaming capabilities are concerned, Iraqna's customers will be able to reach most of the world with international calling options," Senor said.

There are about 400 reservists with the 411th in Iraq.

Sgt. Miral, 39, based at Camp Victory North, got his phone in April or May. He tries to call home every day to stay in touch with his wife and three children ages 11, 6 and 2.

Sgt. Gabby Baltero, who's also with the 411th at Camp Victory North, picked up his phone about the same time. The Kalihi man paid about $165 and buys Subscriber Information Module, or SIM, cards with minutes, said his wife, Jackie.

"Sometimes he'll call me every day. Sometimes it's every two days. It depends," Jackie Baltero said. "The time difference is difficult, so he'll call very early in the morning or late at night."

Iraq is 14 hours ahead of Hawai'i.

"One time he called me up at 3 o'clock in the morning. I was like 'Are you OK?' I was so scared."

She tries to stay away from issues like car repairs.

"I don't burden him with those kinds of problems because he has problems over there," Baltero said. "So I try to talk about happy times when he calls — the kids, just waiting for his R&R."

Last October, Egypt's Orascom Telecom was awarded the mobile phone license for central Iraq, Atheer Telecom was picked for the south, and Sana-Tel and Asia Cell operate in the north.

Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, is the prominent wireless technology in the Middle East, although RCR Wireless News said American wireless firms pushed to enable U.S.-developed Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, technology in the region.

In Kirkuk, Capt. Bill Venable picked up a cell phone as a way to further community relations and get tips as commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.

"I get several phone calls a day about stuff happening downtown," he said back in March.

It isn't the only locally available technology soldiers are getting their hands on. Some have purchased their own satellite dishes to pull in programming.

Sherri Miral remembered her mother getting letters from her father when he was serving in Vietnam.

"Times have changed," she said. Now she gets letters and cell-phone calls.

"When he first got over there, he didn't have anything. He didn't call. He had his other cell phone with him from Hawai'i, which is not going to work over there," she said. "So for the first couple of weeks we hardly got any calls. I didn't know anything. This (cell-phone contact) is so good."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.