Staying in Touch With Home, For Better or Worse

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Forget the drones, laser-guided bombs and eye-popping satellite imagery. For the average soldier, the most significant change to modern warfare might just boil down to instant chatting.

An interesting topic to think about. Basically the article talks about how on one hand it's great that soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are able to talk to friends and family back home (I'll admit I've had a facebook chat with many people in Iraq or Afghanistan) but that it also brings the problems of home (everything from your wife having to deal with leaky pipes to a relationship coming apart) to these individuals, distracting them from the job they are over there to do.

Hmmmm.... Strange, it’s been working when a couple of common friends have been sending it to each other (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/us/17soldiers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2). Quite a shame since I think it’s a very interesting topic that really hasn’t been looked at. Basically I think I covered the big points.

1. Twitter, Facebook, cellphones that now work overseas provide an opportunity for soldiers to stay in contact with friends and family back home like never before (i.e. guys in Vietnam who had to wait weeks for a letter).

2. This can keep morale very high as you can talk to people back home.

3. There is a drawback from this in that soldiers can now be distracted by problems back home. They reference a soldier now being concerned because his wife has problems with the house, a soldier trying to keep tabs on a cheating girlfriend and ultimately commiting suicide, families freaking out if they don’t hear from their loved one for more than a day, and soldiers being distracted from the duties they should be performing over there (they point out the example of a soldier on guard duty texting with his girlfriend).

4. Finally, it looks at the monetary cost. Cell phone bills over in Afghanistan or Iraq can get into the thousands of dollars (don’t forget that many junior enlisted guys don’t make anywhere near that money).

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