Posted on 12/24/2005 1:33:42 PM PST by Dubya
VISTA ---- When Sarah Cylkowski got the call, she hopped in her car at 1 a.m. Friday and drove through the night, from Tempe, Ariz. to Vista, Calif.
She was going to see her husband for the holidays, if only for a few minutes.
In two private rooms at the Boys & Girls Club, dozens of wives, mothers, fathers and children used Internet video-conferencing software Friday to interact with Marines stationed in Iraq.
Reunited using tiny cameras, microphones and digital screens, the families laughed, waved and often cried.
The project, dubbed Operation Connect, was hosted by Next Generation Business Resources, an Irvine-based telecommunications company; America Supporting Americans, a nonprofit military support group; the Boys & Girls Club of Vista and the Rotary Club of Vista.
Participating Marines were from the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion out of Camp Pendleton, stationed near the Syrian border. There are more than 600 troops in the battalion, said Chief Warrant Officer Jason Scroggs, the family liaison. Many relatives didn't know if their Marine would be available to chat until the last minute.
The project suffered some early kinks. Sound was spotty and a volunteer had to run out and buy headsets to reduce the echoes.
But for Cylkowski, 20, nothing could spoil the mood.
"I understood maybe three things he said," she said after seeing her husband for the first time in four months. "But I could see him smile, and that's what matters."
With tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, she walked back toward her car. "I would make this trip every day if I could," she said.
Camp Pendleton resident Barbara Downing, 29, waited an hour to give her three children a chance to see their father, Staff Sgt. Robert Downing. The foursome crowded together to get into the camera's field of vision.
"Honey, you need to eat, you look so skinny," she told her husband.
"Yeah, you need to be strong!" added Bobby, the couple's 8-year-old son.
The oldest daughter Katherine, 7, tried to maintain her composure, but when her father reached into his pocket and pulled out a crayon drawing she had made, her tears started flowing.
"They asked Santa for something I don't think he'll be able to bring," the mother said to her husband. "They want you to come home."
She paused to listen to his reply in the headset, then laughed and said, "yeah, and an Xbox."
Operation Connect came together in less than two weeks, said Gerald Kostecka, marketing director for Next Generation Business Resources, which provided the equipment. So many families showed up the hours had to be extended.
Rotarian volunteer and former Marine Jack Dausman, 78, said the instant communication was a sharp contrast with the two weeks it would take to get a letter when he was serving in Korea and Vietnam.
"It makes a big difference," Dausman said. "Look at the expressions on these people's faces. It makes your Christmas."
Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.
Seven-year-old Katherine Downing cries "I want my daddy back" during a happy and sad video call to her father Marine Staff Sgt. Robert Downing serving in Iraq by the Syrian boarder Friday morning at the Vista Boys and Girls Club. Barbara Downing, her son Bobby. 8, daughter Katherine, and baby Karla. 10 months, talk to husband and father via the internet for about 15 minutes during Operation Connect Global Event.
Jamie Scott Lytle
Marine Staff Sgt. Robert Downing serving in Iraq by the Syrian boarder is projected onto a wall at the Vista Boys and Girls Club
Jamie Scott Lytle
How wonderful this is, ...and they all are.
The toughest job in the military? Being a military family.
God bless them all.
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