Constant contact

[unhappycamper]

Constant contact
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, October 25, 2008

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — During the Vietnam War, a GI’s best bet for communicating with family and friends was with pen and paper.

But from the streets of Baghdad to the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, troops today need only turn on a computer to reach out to loved ones. Being able to communicate with friends and family just hours after surviving a firefight, however, can be both a blessing and a bane, Rodger Randle, University of Oklahoma’s director for the Center for Studies in Democracy, said during a lecture here Thursday.

While it’s great to talk to your spouse at the end of a hot, dusty, dangerous day in Iraq, perhaps the last thing you want to hear from your spouse back in the United States is that the family car broke down, or little Jimmy’s having behavioral problems in school.

"We live in a world of exceptional connectivity," Randle said. "Back in World War II, when a soldier shipped out he’d be cut off from the rest of world for quite some time. Now, we’re placed in great anxiety when the Internet is cut off.

"The lives we lead today are very different from the lives we led before the Internet revolution."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58361



uhc comment: In addition to pen and paper, troops in Nam also had MARS stations for calls home.

NCOIC
AB8AJ
Cu Chi, 1970