Morale net keeps Airmen in touch with families during the holiday season

Published Dec. 21, 2010
By Maj. Dale Greer
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Christmas can be a challenging time for U.S. service members deployed overseas, far from loved ones at a time when friends and family are gathering back home to celebrate.

But two things are easing the pain of separation for hundreds of Airmen stationed at an undisclosed air base here: free, wireless Internet access and video-chat services like Skype.

Tech. Sgt. Deven Gates, the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing's Equal Opportunity director, uses Skype regularly to stay in touch with her stateside husband, an Air Force survival instructor; and her three children, a five-year-old daughter and two 8-year-old boys. Christmas Day will be no different.

"This deployment is the first time we've ever used video chat, and we'll never go back to telephones," said Sergeant Gates, whose marathon chat sessions have been known to stretch two hours or more. "It allows you to be there in a way that nothing else can provide."

Sergeant Gates has already used Skype to "attend" at least one special event back home: her husband's birthday.

"I bought a birthday present for my husband and hid it in the house before I left," she said, smiling broadly at the memory. "So on his birthday, I called my husband on Skype and sent him off to find the present. He brought it back to the computer and opened it in front of me. I wasn't physically there in the room, but it was close enough."

Sergeant Gates also uses video chat to remain engaged as a parent. Her children often read in front of the computer, for example, so they can ask her for help if they come across a difficult passage.

"That lets me stay involved in their lives in a very meaningful way and have the sense that I'm there, even though I'm really not."

Perhaps the best aspect of video chat, however, is the ability it provides to experience the mundane, day-to-day rhythms of life back home, no matter how vicarious the experience may be.

"I'll be chatting with my husband, and I'll hear the doorbell ring," Sergeant Gates said. "And I'll be like, 'Hey, who's at the door?' That kind of experience is the biggest morale boost I've ever experienced during a deployment."

Such a boost would be impossible without the wireless broadband network maintained here by the 386th Expeditionary Communications Squadron. Called DAWGnet -- short for Deployed Airman Wireless G-band network -- this morale web provides free commercial Internet access to more than 2,000 U.S. service members and civilians assigned to the 386th AEW.

Long regarded as one of the best morale webs in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility, DAWGnet will soon get even better thanks to equipment upgrades slated to roll out in January, according to Maj. James Hewitt, commander of the 386th ECS.

"This wing has a pretty strong tradition of excellence with its morale web," Major Hewitt noted. "Our network was one of the first in the theater to be optimized for video-chat tools, so video chat connections get priority over other kinds of traffic. This optimization helps our Airmen stay in touch with their family members back home, which is really the whole point of maintaining a morale web like DAWGnet."

Next month's scheduled upgrades include new network switches, an improved proxy server and professional-grade wireless access points that will replace equipment designed for home use, according to Capt. Stacie Rembold, commander of the 386th ECS Operations Flight.

"The end result is that Airmen will have better network connectivity," Captain Rembold said. "They'll be able to Skype with their family members much more reliably, with higher-quality video and fewer dropped calls. They'll be able to surf the Web with much less latency or delay. And more people will be able to access DAWGnet at the same time."

Major Hewitt noted that morale webs are one of U.S. Air Forces Central Commander Lt. Gen. Mike Hostage's top quality-of-life initiatives.

"It's critical to the morale of deployed forces that they be able to stay in touch with their loved ones," he said. "First, we're taking care of Airmen because it's the right thing to do. But we're also making a positive impact on the mission. When Airmen have a regular opportunity to talk to their spouses and children, they'll be much more positive at work and will be able to focus on mission accomplishment."

Sergeant Gates couldn't agree more.

"DAWGnet makes me happy, and when I'm happy, I'm doing my work," she said. "It keeps my mind in a positive place, so I'm more productive and focused on the mission."

Now, with the scheduled upgrades, Sergeant Gates has an even better video-chat experience to look forward to.

"I'm kind of curious to see how much better it can get," she said, "because I'm already really satisfied with the access we have now."

Captain Rembold promises she won't be disappointed.

"We think these upgrades will make DAWGnet a benchmark for quality service across the AOR," she said. "A great network is going to get even better."