I was reading online and read the following about the marines who are serving our nation and something caught my eye that REALLY pi$$es me off.

"Long-distance marriages and relationships are always tough, but they can go bad quickly when a spouse is out to sea. The news that crew members get in phone calls and e-mails home can make or break a day already stressed by preparations for possible war against Iraq.

The 10,000 aviators, Marines, cooks and other crew aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the support ships in the carrier's battle group have been at sea since Jan. 6.

Days are long, rest time scarce and entertainment minimal. As the tour in the eastern Mediterranean stretches and the threat of war solidifies, thoughts turn increasingly toward home, for better or for worse.

Petty Officer Johnnie Wright, who as ship librarian allots crew members their daily e-mail and phone time, says she sees a lot of tears after phone calls end and e-mails are read.

``We have the husbands whose wives don't understand about their being out to sea,'' says Wright, 32, of Dallas.

``Women often don't understand that their husbands can't come home. They don't understand when they ask, 'Where are you?' and their husbands say, 'I can't tell you,' 'When are you coming home?' 'I can't tell you.'''

At least they can speak to one another though, from phone booths in the cramped space below the flight deck that houses a library of stacked paperbacks, videotapes and computer screens.

Calls are possible through a wireless satellite link to the U.S. mainland. Crew members buy AT&T phone cards that give them a minute of phone time for $1. E-mail is free, but many sailors opt for the intimacy of hearing their loved ones, despite the price.

Regular mail remains popular: It gets through, and crew members say there is something special about getting a letter."


These damn soldiers are over there risking their life for our country and our country cannot even pick up the tab on phone bills.The have the ***** to charge their soldiers $1.00 for a fu$%&ing 1 minute phone call!!!!!!

One more reason i would not EVER join the military.Although the people who do it I respect tremendously,I feel they are foolish.If we get invaded,Give me a gun and ill fight .I aint going to some foreign land to fight over politics...........they start showing up here,ill be the first to join but our government needs to take care of us instead of worrying about everybody else.Half the people we always protect are now backing out on us anyways......

 

I agree 100%.

 

10-10-220

 

Dang youre right man, they should not be charged for making phone calls to their loved ones. At&t should give them free time cause if they werent there fighting, then who would protect us against our enemies, i doubt at&t would, so they should give them free time for defending our nation.

 

Wasnt it barry goldwater who not only a senator but a HAM radio operator that set up calls over the radio from vietnam to the states so soldiers could talk to thier loved ones.....note youngsters this was before sattilite and ether net...it was bouncing radio waves off the atmosphere...he had it right

 

I agree with the point about the phone calls, but 12 years and 17 broken UN resolutions need to be addressed. He's gassed his own people, don't believe for one minute that he won't do it to us.

 

Sat phone for $1 a minute is CHEAP

But I agree that there should be a way to make it cheaper. However if we do then we end up paying the bill for ANY call not just calls to loved ones.

Doug

 

Maybe someone should look into setting up a fund and taking donations for AT&T to accept and make it at least cheaper. Maybe call the Dept of Defense and AT&T and see if they have something like this. If we could just get about $10 from all the people who read all the boards we do, and get other boards like STANGNET etcc to chip in, we could do something for them.

Any up to looking into it?

G

 

I remember when I was in. There was no e-mail and no phones on the ships. There was what they called the MARS system. Basically a HAM radio system operated by all volunteers in America. That was kind of hard, sometimes it was up sometimes it was down.

The way it operated was by a network of HAM radio operators and the phone company, usually where it was only a local call by the phone company. What sucked was it was not a personal call, there were two operators always listening. They had to in order to pass it back and forth. You always had to say “over” after you spoke and wanted a response from the other person. Kind of like:

“Hey honey its Joe, over”

“Hi, where are you, over”

“I am at sea, can’t tell you where, over”

Kind of sucked, but hey it was something. I can say that $1 a minute is not too bad. When we were in port and at the base, well for me stationed in Japan on the USS Midway (aircraft carrier) a 10 minute call would cost me about $30.

I would say if you were going to make it free there would have to be strict time limits like perhaps 10 minutes a week.

On one deployment we were at sea for something like 120 days straight no ports. All we had was mail, and by the time we received it, it was like 1 – 3 weeks old. Very hard to stay in touch that way.

The military is very hard on relationships and marriages. The pay is very low, the stress is very high. You have to give the spouses of military members just as much credit for service to country as the actually service member themselves. Sometimes their (spouse) job is even harder then the one in combat.

 

All I can say is with the amount of money our illustrious government p$sses away on nonsense, they could easily pay for these calls and then some. As 01 XLT Sport indicated, simply apply a little common sense and put limits on the time each serivce man gets for free, and then let them personally pay for any excess minutes they wish to spend on the phone. Last time I checked, senators in this country get free lifetime healthcare for them and their family, regardless of the length of their tenure. Talk about a total lack of focus on priorities. Hopefully one day the world will settle down and allow Americans to focus on re-staffing the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our government. Personally I look forward to that time.

 

Agreed, at least one free phone call per month, pay if you want more. Sheesh, could it get any tighter???

 

There are numerous private organizations and service groups collecting pre-paid phone cards for armed service personnel deployed in preparation to the "blanket party" GW has planned for Hussein. My wife and I just sent 10 - $20 cards on Friday ( I would suggest nothing smaller than a $20 card, that's not much time when you think about it) Do a search, you should find one near your area.

http://www.wndu.com/news/story_print...e&storyid=2913

 

Here's a way we can help! It's called Operation Uplink - it provides calling cards to the military & hospitalized vets.
There are 2 sites I found:http://www.operationuplink.org/ & www.nfl.com/vfw. You can donate to this & help keep our brave military in touch with their families. Who knows - we may save a marriage or several! I'm donating - will you? Please?

 

OK, this is one of the things that has ticked me off for a long time.

If our gov't can take my money and fund a prisoner's food, warm clothes, warm bed, schooling, and recreation, then certainly we can afford to spend a little more to make our troops' lives a little less miserable. OK, so we take them away from their homes, put them in danger, then charge 'em a buck a minute to call home.

We're getting ridiculous with awarding laziness and stupidity and not recognizing the people going out of they're way to keep this country free!

 

Forget the $1.00 per minute . I would have gladly paid that in the early '70s on a $245.00 a month salary.

What really chaps my hide is that when serving in uniform you must pay Federal taxes.

WTF!! you are already giving the ultimate sacrifice but you must also chip in "your fair share" to do it!!!!! It has to be the most assinine thing our government does to the men and women in uniform.