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Freedom call center supports Camp Taji

Photo By Capt. Monika Comeaux | Emblem of the Freedom Call Center.... read more read more

TAJI, IRAQ

03.30.2006

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP TAJI, Iraq - Thanks to the Freedom Calls Foundation, hundreds of Soldiers can call, e-mail and talk to their families through a video teleconferencing system (VTC) for free every day. The foundation also sponsors locations at Al Asad and Fallujah.

The Freedom Call Center at Taji has been in service for about two and a half years and is sponsored by companies and organizations who donate money to support Soldiers keeping in touch with their families, said Staff Sgt. Lisa Hamm, an information systems operator analyst with the Combat Service Support Automation Management Office, Special Troops Battalion (STB), 4th Sustainment Brigade.

Hamm and a fellow NCO manage the building, troubleshoot the equipment and schedule the VTCs.

"It is a morale booster," said Pvt. Chase Bouton, a petroleum supply specialist with Company A, 4th Forward Support Battalion.

"You can come in and you don't have to spend $35 on a phone card. They have time limits, but as soon as you are done, you can sign up again and get back on the phone," he added.

The Taji center has 14 phones and 26 computers and is open 24 hours a day, unless there is a communications blackout, said Hamm. There is a 30-minute limit on the phone or computer usage, but they allow Soldiers to stay on the equipment if there is no one waiting in line behind them.

The center is also capable of running three VTCs simultaneously, but they have to close down the phones and computers for the duration of the transmission.

"The VTC is a 100 percent morale booster," said Sgt. 1st Class Perry Reed, operations NCO for the STB, 4th SB. "It keeps me informed of what's going on back home. It takes me away from Iraq for a minute or two," he continued.

The center is able to connect to five off-post locations in the Fort Hood area and more than 5,000 off-post sites all around the United States, Hamm said.

Soldiers or units may schedule the VTC for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries or weddings as well, but they need to allow a couple of weeks for coordination.

Reed has been away from home several times during his military career, but this is the first time he got to use the VTC for morale purposes, he said.

"She progressively gets to monitor my weight loss," he said jokingly, referring to how his wife gets to see a crystal clear image of him as they talk to each other.

Hamm enjoys her job assisting Soldiers getting in touch with their loved ones. "The most touching VTC was the one we had recently. It was a lower-enlisted Soldier and he was able to be there for his wife's ultrasound, to find out what the sex of the baby was," said Hamm.

The center averages about 700 to 800 users a day. "There is always a little more phone usage than computer," Hamm said.

"We are definitely being supported through this by the American public. That gives us a reason to fight and win, knowing that we are being supported by citizens back home," said Reed.