By Margaret Rock | Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:11 pm |
Military members are reaching out to their families and communities with Skype and mobile devices, using the technology to follow sporting events, educate children and even witness the birth of offspring while on duty overseas.
Is This Thing On?, or ITTO, is our Wednesday column showing how everyday people use technology in unexpected ways.Proud military dads are able to witness their baby's first precious cries and support their wives during labor through the Defense Department's Skype birthing rooms for troops in Afghanistan. The government's program uses portable iPods, smartphones, and cooperating hospitals to bring military families together for the miracle of childbirth. Military wives in Alaska can give birth, for example, as special networks and Skype help husbands stationed around the globe achieve the next best thing to being there. The Defense Department has made a promotional video with troops from the 445th to discuss the new program, which is officially sanctioned, but has underground roots. For some time, individual soldiers managed to obtain a computer and borrow Skype accounts to watch family members with iPods recording the momentous event. The soldiers report being thrilled to witness their children's birth, and are also are grateful to support their partners during this challenging and intimate milestone. Both military and civilian hospitals are offering or considering specialized programs for military families, which will likely increase, since over 800,000 U.S. children under five years old have one or more parents on active military duty or in the National Guard and Reserves. Skype is also offering a different kind of connection to service members who may not be expecting a baby, but rather a good boxing match. Boxer Manny Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach devoted a Friday night earlier this month for a Skype session with troops from the P2K Province of Afghanistan, encouraging the soldiers and thanking them for their service to the country. Pacquiao and Roach were interviewed for more than a half an hour by the troops from the Task Force Duke, Third Brigade, First Infantry Division from Fort Knox, Ken. The participating soldiers are part of Operation Enduring Freedom and are currently stationed in Afghanistan's Paktyka, Khost and Paktia Province. The fighter and his trainer talked to the troops from a Los Angeles apartment, surrounded by cameras from HBO's 24/7 film crew, who have been filming events surrounding the highly anticipated match between Pacquiao and Juan Marquez. The chat allowed the soldiers to ask Pacquiao about upcoming fights, and even if he would be running for president, serving as a much-needed diversion for the troops. The Skype session may have boosted the boxer, too, since Pacquiao went on to defeat Marquez by a decision after a close match. Communicating with Skype is not just something that benefits soldiers, as a group of Pennsylvania school students can attest. Shannon Wagner's class at Rupert Elementary School in Pottsdown had the honor of Sgt. Catrina Dorsey's presence, via Skype, earlier this month, as part of a student program to send letters and care packages to a soldier. Dorsey spoke with the students about a wide range of subjects, including uniforms, what motivated her to join, and details of her Thanksgiving plans, giving students the opportunity to get the information directly from the source and glimpse a world beyond their small town. In the future, it may be even easier for military families and anyone to use Skype. This summer, Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion, in a deal that could bear fruit next year when new lines of Windows products, bolstered with advanced video-chat capabilities, hit the market. This summer, the Redmond, Wash.-based company confirmed plans to integrate Skype with existing products, though it didn't specify which ones. Microsoft's Skype purchase may enable the company to better compete against Apple and Google in the growing video chatting market. People increasingly use video chatting services to keep in touch with friends and family, hold virtual business meetings, and chat live on social media sites. Over 170 million people per month use Skype for making voice calls, video chatting and sending text messages. Many of these connections are routine, but quite a few of these conversations are priceless. And for military families, Skype sessions are serving to maintain a vital link to home, country and to children that will become the future.
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