thedrifter
04-29-03, 09:07 AM
April 24, 2003
How email transforms military deployments, in war and peace
[Have an opinion on this article? Sound off in the discussion boards.]
"I'm alive."
Those two words eased my mind and worry.
Of course just seeing the electronic message in my Inbox 12 days into the war in Iraq told me that my friend and neighbor, Mike, was safe and OK.
It had been three weeks since I last heard from Mike, a staff sergeant in the Marines on a scheduled six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf region. During those three weeks, he had landed at Camp Coyote in Kuwait from the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa with the rest of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif. A veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he stood again on familiar ground - but this time he faced an unsettled future.
"Well I'm alive and well." he wrote in that April 2 email, noting he's "lost a lot of weight though and muscle tone." The unit had opened its Internet server that night so Marines and sailors could contact their loved ones by e-mail.
By this time, Mike and the unit had done their fair share of fighting along with British forces in the southern port city of Umm Qasr, north of Kuwait. "As you know we took Umm Qasr," he wrote. "We had one Marine die and a few wounded. I think we will have more in the days ahead."
His thoughts in an email the following night echoed his concerns and fears. But Mike, being a Marine, knew his duty. "We have moved and are ready for whatever else comes our way," he wrote, adding: "Not much to say, everything is tight-lipped. Just keep watching the news and you'll know what is going on."
I can only imagine how surreal sending an email from a tent in the desert is for Gulf War veterans who had no simple way to contact family or friends even before they stepped into battle and crossed into Kuwait and Southern Iraq in 1991.
The rise of the Internet has undoubtedly changed the conduct of war. Military commanders, war planners, logisticians and frontline forces communicate by secured networks. Flat-screen monitors, laptop computers, digital "moving maps" and white boards dominate command operations centers; gone are the laminated maps and grease pencils of the last war. E-mail is quickly replacing the well-used but tired form of message traffic to relay everything from casualty reports to assumptions of command.
The ease and speed of e-mail also has transformed a combat deployment for those who do it, from the private and seaman recruit to the top officers. No longer does a tour in a dusty combat zone, an overseas deployment or even an exotic "West Pac" cruise mean a lonely, solo journey far from home.
Another friend, Dennis, announces his status his wellbeing through photographs he sends to his sister in New York, who fans them out to his relatives and friends. Dennis, a veteran of the 1992-1993 Somalia operation, is a first sergeant in the Marines and left Camp Pendleton with his unit in January. His latest e-mail includes a photo taken in Iraq with the war's commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, a picture destined for his growing "I-was-there" photo collection.
The instant-but-distant communication that email provides comes with a mixed bag of good and bad for military service members and their families:
Immediacy. With instant messaging and sometimes just sheer good luck, the news and sentiment of an email message is received and read within seconds. (Good) An email can quickly answer a simple but angst-filled question from parents and relatives worried about their children, siblings and friends: Are they OK? The speed is unequaled by snail mail. From transport planes and Navy ships, and then by helicopters and military trucks, orange sacks of U.S. mail are delivered to the combat troops ultimately by hand. It can take two to three weeks - or longer for care packages - to get into your loved ones' hands. (Bad)
Another minus: IM can quickly spoil us. Sometimes military commanders shut down outgoing email servers. Many combat troops in a war zone don't work in front of the computer (tank drivers, snipers, cooks, to name a few) and can't check email every 10 minutes. Anxieties and fears can rise when someone doesn't get a reply within minutes. How can we be sure they are OK? So worried parents and wives, siblings and friends are virtually glued to the TV or radio for the latest news from CNN or Fox News.
Emotional. With instant email, eloquent expressions of love, longing and desire can quickly ease one's anxieties and fears about a friend or relative in a combat zone or back at home. (Good) But once that SENT button is hit, the email is on its way and can't be canceled. (Bad) It reminds me of the Horace quote: "Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled." Email can cause small things to blow up, can distort the moment and can overstate emotions of what may just be a passing drop on the emotional rollercoaster that comes with being apart from loved ones during war.
Attachments. The popularity and shrinking costs of digital cameras have made it much easier for families, friends and troops to share "photos from the front," birthday celebrations and new babies by a simple email. (Good) But two-dimensional email cannot fully replace the love and care that comes in a handwritten letter or carefully packaged box of goodies. (Bad) During the Persian Gulf War and U.S. operations in Somalia in December 1992 and in Haiti in 1994, for example, Marines who I was reporting on eagerly awaited the real mail: perfume-scented envelopes bearing love notes and photographs, candy-filled boxes of goodies and homemade brownies and cookies.
In the end, however, email, by its immediacy, may ultimately have the most important benefit of all: Peace of mind, and at least a good night's sleep for a worried parent, sibling or friend.
© 2003 Gidget Fuentes.
Sempers,
Roger
How email transforms military deployments, in war and peace
[Have an opinion on this article? Sound off in the discussion boards.]
"I'm alive."
Those two words eased my mind and worry.
Of course just seeing the electronic message in my Inbox 12 days into the war in Iraq told me that my friend and neighbor, Mike, was safe and OK.
It had been three weeks since I last heard from Mike, a staff sergeant in the Marines on a scheduled six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf region. During those three weeks, he had landed at Camp Coyote in Kuwait from the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa with the rest of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif. A veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he stood again on familiar ground - but this time he faced an unsettled future.
"Well I'm alive and well." he wrote in that April 2 email, noting he's "lost a lot of weight though and muscle tone." The unit had opened its Internet server that night so Marines and sailors could contact their loved ones by e-mail.
By this time, Mike and the unit had done their fair share of fighting along with British forces in the southern port city of Umm Qasr, north of Kuwait. "As you know we took Umm Qasr," he wrote. "We had one Marine die and a few wounded. I think we will have more in the days ahead."
His thoughts in an email the following night echoed his concerns and fears. But Mike, being a Marine, knew his duty. "We have moved and are ready for whatever else comes our way," he wrote, adding: "Not much to say, everything is tight-lipped. Just keep watching the news and you'll know what is going on."
I can only imagine how surreal sending an email from a tent in the desert is for Gulf War veterans who had no simple way to contact family or friends even before they stepped into battle and crossed into Kuwait and Southern Iraq in 1991.
The rise of the Internet has undoubtedly changed the conduct of war. Military commanders, war planners, logisticians and frontline forces communicate by secured networks. Flat-screen monitors, laptop computers, digital "moving maps" and white boards dominate command operations centers; gone are the laminated maps and grease pencils of the last war. E-mail is quickly replacing the well-used but tired form of message traffic to relay everything from casualty reports to assumptions of command.
The ease and speed of e-mail also has transformed a combat deployment for those who do it, from the private and seaman recruit to the top officers. No longer does a tour in a dusty combat zone, an overseas deployment or even an exotic "West Pac" cruise mean a lonely, solo journey far from home.
Another friend, Dennis, announces his status his wellbeing through photographs he sends to his sister in New York, who fans them out to his relatives and friends. Dennis, a veteran of the 1992-1993 Somalia operation, is a first sergeant in the Marines and left Camp Pendleton with his unit in January. His latest e-mail includes a photo taken in Iraq with the war's commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, a picture destined for his growing "I-was-there" photo collection.
The instant-but-distant communication that email provides comes with a mixed bag of good and bad for military service members and their families:
Immediacy. With instant messaging and sometimes just sheer good luck, the news and sentiment of an email message is received and read within seconds. (Good) An email can quickly answer a simple but angst-filled question from parents and relatives worried about their children, siblings and friends: Are they OK? The speed is unequaled by snail mail. From transport planes and Navy ships, and then by helicopters and military trucks, orange sacks of U.S. mail are delivered to the combat troops ultimately by hand. It can take two to three weeks - or longer for care packages - to get into your loved ones' hands. (Bad)
Another minus: IM can quickly spoil us. Sometimes military commanders shut down outgoing email servers. Many combat troops in a war zone don't work in front of the computer (tank drivers, snipers, cooks, to name a few) and can't check email every 10 minutes. Anxieties and fears can rise when someone doesn't get a reply within minutes. How can we be sure they are OK? So worried parents and wives, siblings and friends are virtually glued to the TV or radio for the latest news from CNN or Fox News.
Emotional. With instant email, eloquent expressions of love, longing and desire can quickly ease one's anxieties and fears about a friend or relative in a combat zone or back at home. (Good) But once that SENT button is hit, the email is on its way and can't be canceled. (Bad) It reminds me of the Horace quote: "Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled." Email can cause small things to blow up, can distort the moment and can overstate emotions of what may just be a passing drop on the emotional rollercoaster that comes with being apart from loved ones during war.
Attachments. The popularity and shrinking costs of digital cameras have made it much easier for families, friends and troops to share "photos from the front," birthday celebrations and new babies by a simple email. (Good) But two-dimensional email cannot fully replace the love and care that comes in a handwritten letter or carefully packaged box of goodies. (Bad) During the Persian Gulf War and U.S. operations in Somalia in December 1992 and in Haiti in 1994, for example, Marines who I was reporting on eagerly awaited the real mail: perfume-scented envelopes bearing love notes and photographs, candy-filled boxes of goodies and homemade brownies and cookies.
In the end, however, email, by its immediacy, may ultimately have the most important benefit of all: Peace of mind, and at least a good night's sleep for a worried parent, sibling or friend.
© 2003 Gidget Fuentes.
Sempers,
Roger