December 31, 1995
Web posted at: 10:50 p.m. EST (0350 GMT)
From Correspondent Bill Delaney
BAD KREUZNACH, Germany (CNN) -- More than any military
mission ever, NATO's Bosnia deployment is computerized -- a
strategic tool with a human touch.
For the first time on a large scale, the way to phone home for military families left behind is via cyberspace. Before soldiers leave, families are familiarized with e-mail.
Kirsten Abare's husband, Captain Brent Abare, is scheduled to
be in Sarajevo for the next year, so Kirsten is learning to
talk with him there.
"As long as students feel that they can still contact their parents... that makes all the difference."
- high school Principal Jennifer Beckwith (143K AIFF sound or 143K WAV sound)
"The computer stuff helps tremendously," she says. "We can
talk to husbands. Kids can come in and say 'hi, dad. I love
you.' And to let the soldiers back here know families are
thinking about them."
(193K AIFF sound or
193K WAV sound)
"There will be long periods of time when I know I won't have a chance to talk to her or receive a letter," says Abare's husband. "And, to hear her, to see her words on the screen will mean a lot. To let me know she's OK and she's thinking about me."
At the U.S. high school in Bad Kreuznach, teenagers -- many already fluent in cyber-talk -- will be encouraged to e-mail parents. Principal Jennifer Beckwith says she remembers that primitive era when they couldn't do that -- just a few years ago during Operation Desert Storm.
"As long as students feel that they can still contact their parents," she says, "...that makes all the difference."
The e-mail opportunities mean that for this military
operation -- as fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters head
off -- 'don't forget to write' takes on a whole new meaning.
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