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By Lt. Dwain Sliger
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 15 – Chaplain
AL ASAD, Iraq -- Story by Chaplain LT Dwain Sliger
Imagine the long anticipated call home. It has been about three days. You enter your phone card number and pin. Then you dial your personal number and the person's voice you anticipate on the other end begins:
Lexi: "Daddy I can't talk to you right now, I am busy."
Dad: "What are you busy doing?"
Lexi: "I'm watching you and the TV."
Dad immediately realizes his daughter is watching his book-reading DVD.
Dad: "Really? What do you think?
Lexi: "Dad, I'm busy. I love you, bye."
Would you be disappointed?
Ask any deployed Seabee the importance of phone connections and it is high on the "To Do" list.
What could take the place of a phone call?
If you are still guessing, let me give you three initials: UTR or United Through Reading. UTR is a book reading program designed for a deployed military member to be recorded while they read books to their kids or loved ones. The DVDs are mailed home, along with the book.
"My own daughter doesn't even want to talk to me now," said Cmdr. Steven Wolfe about his 4-year-old daughter Alexis. Of course, he says this with a slight grin. He is glad his daughter enjoys this long distance connection.
Ever since Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 15 arrived at their present duty station in western Iraq, they had the goal of getting this program off the ground. Many of our Seabees who are parents, have young children who are accustomed to the emotional bond reading creates. Yet, when the call comes to serve the nation in another part of the world, the relationship created by this quality time is severed. Imagine not only dealing with the emotions of leaving and heading to a new country but saying goodbye to those we first welcomed into the world.
"I didn't want my little boy to forget me," said equipment operator Petty Officer 1st Class Tricia Jesberg talking about her 4-year-old boy Aaron. "This way he gets to see and hear me."
"My daughter liked it very well," said storekeeper Petty Officer 1st Class Todd Pomeroy talking about his little girl Ann Marie, 4-years-old. "She was happy to see her daddy."
NMCB 15 has had many Seabees participate in the program.
"We've had just over 50 Seabees come in to read books," said religious specialist Petty Officer 3rd Class James Suddeth Jr. "Chaplain said his daughter liked seeing dad on TV and asked if she could have another one."
Suzy Caughlan, the program manager for the UTR program shared her personal experience:
"My father was in the Navy for 30 years, my husband in the Marine Corps for 30 years and our daughter is currently serving in the Marine Corps. She just returned from a deployment in Iraq. Having been through eleven deployments in my lifetime, I understand the importance of families staying connected during long separations. United Through Reading helps families do that by providing an opportunity for deployed military personnel to be privately filmed reading storybooks to the children in their lives."
United Thorough Reading has helped unite deployed members with their families in a way that seems a little less distant and a lot more familiar.
| Date Taken: | 01.12.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 01.14.2008 11:24 |
| Story ID: | 15414 |
| Location: | AL ASAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 486 |
| Downloads: | 439 |
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