Photo By Sgt. Mike MacLeod | A paratrooper with 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade),...... read more read more
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AL ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq — Sharing Kaylie's karate practice, Tristen's and Madison's birthday parties, and a visit by the Tooth Fairy; online college courses for an associate's degree in art and learning sign language with online video sharing; web based shopping for distant relatives and online banking.
Especially now during the Christmas holiday, Rebecca Tapia also uses the computer she received from a nonprofit charity for its intended purpose: the full time young mother of three keeps in touch with her deployed paratrooper, Pfc. Joseph Tapia, a cannon crew member with 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade).
Joseph is one of 75 paratroopers whose family received a new Dell notebook computer through Operation Homelink just prior to the unit's deployment in August.
To date, the nonprofit has partnered with corporate donors to link 3,200 deployed soldiers with their families using Internet-friendly computers.
"He'll pop up in Yahoo Messenger and say he's online," said Rebecca. "We'll talk about the kids. He'll say, 'How are you doing in school?' I just finished an online class."
"I text her cell phone from Yahoo and ask her to get on the computer so we can chat," said Joseph, who has been deployed in Al Anbar province, Iraq, since August 2009. "I'll definitely be online with my wife and kids for Christmas," said Joseph.
Rebecca also uses the ultra compact notebook to communicate with her family in Arizona, Joseph's aunt in South Carolina, and his sister in California. When Rebecca's sister had a baby, she posted the photos to Facebook for Rebecca to see.
Maintaining family connections make the deployment easier to bear, she said.
"We just had our family portraits made, and I put the pictures on Facebook. I put everything on Facebook."
Donor companies share a passion for supporting military personnel and their families, said Dan Shannon, the founder of OH. The goal is to provide refurbished computers to the spouses or parents of troops within the lowest pay grades.
On Dec. 18, in collaboration with Dell, OH supplied 100 new "Netbook" computers to the families of deployed soldiers stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash.
A week earlier with Raytheon Company, OH presented 150 refurbished computers with webcams, allowing them to see each other in real time when they talked, to the families of a brigade with the 75th Ranger Regiment and other units stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.
The Tapias computer did not come with a webcam, but they wish it had, they said.
"With the increased use of programs like Skype, many of our recipients told us they would love to have webcams for the computers," said Shannon. "This is particularly important for holidays and birthdays. I went to our primary donors, Dell and Raytheon, and suggested we include webcams with future computers. Both wholeheartedly agreed, so going forward, all OH computers will include a webcam."
Shannon is continually inspired to grow the program by the servicemembers that he meets, he said.
"A father came up to me following the Fort Benning event," explained Shannon. "He was there to help his daughter pick up one of our computers. He said that he was deaf and that he also has a son in the Marines who is also deployed. He asked how someone in his position could get a computer so he could 'speak' with his son. I told him that I would send him a laptop. We found out that his wife is wheelchair bound and they also have a niece and nephew serving. I bought them a webcam and wireless router so it would be easier for her to use anywhere in the house from her wheelchair."
Shannon later received word from the father, thanking him for making it "possible for a deaf man's voice to be heard around the world."
"Who is more deserving than this family, to whom the rest of America owes a debt that we can never repay?" he asked.
| Date Taken: | 12.31.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2009 02:57 |
| Story ID: | 43321 |
| Location: | AL ASAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 589 |
| Downloads: | 530 |
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