A soldier currently deployed in the Sunni triangle north of Baghdad in Iraq was able to watch his wife graduate nursing school in Norfolk, Nebraska using technology supplied by VidiTel.
In cooperation with Freedom Calls Foundation and Connecting Point of Norfolk, Sgt. Gabriel Synovec, Alpha Company 185th CSB, was able to watch his wife, Kim, graduate from Nursing School at Northeast College in Norfolk, Nebraska on August 6th. After the ceremony, Sgt. Synovec was also able to see and talk to Kim, his parents, and other relatives.
Freedom Calls recognized the fact that most front line soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, faced with extended tours of duty, are not able to speak with members of their families for months at a time. They decided to take advantage of today’s available technology to remedy the situation. Soldiers may now attend and participate in milestone family events such as graduations, births, birthdays and weddings and the like via video conference over the Freedom Calls Network.
The benefits of the Freedom Calls service includes higher morale for our soldiers overseas as well as the family communication that helps to alleviate the stress and pain felt by the families of the soldiers when they get to communicate with their loved ones half a world away.
Freedom Calls is building a communications network independent of military networks employing state of the art WiFi, VoIP, and Video Conferencing technology to enable our troops to communicate free of charge from their base camps with their families at home by Internet telephone, instant messaging, and video conference.
Back in July, Army Spc. Joshua Strickland was able to sing "Happy Birthday" to his daughter Shelby on her first birthday — from Iraq.
As reported in the Valdosta Daily Times newspaper Strickland was deployed overseas in January. Not wanting her husband to miss Shelby's first birthday, wife Dorothy used the technology provided by the Freedom Calls Foundation to link Joshua to his daughter's party.
Strickland’s fellow soldiers led him to the Freedom Calls facility under the false pretense that he would get to speak with his wife and daughter by phone.
Imagine his surprise when he saw Dorothy and Shelby for the first time in months.
What’s even more touching, Strickland was able to hear his little girl say "Daddy" for the very first time.
It’s nice to see technology being used for something a bit more heartwarming than identity theft. My hat is off to the folks at Freedom Calls and their partners.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Freedom Calls Foundation, please click here.
