Can You Hear Me Now? - GIs Struggle to Phone Home From Iraq

[dArKeR]

Both AT&T and MCI are providing phone services to the U.S. military in Iraq. But miscommunication over their different roles has made it harder—and more expensive—for soldiers to call home

Like so many other military family members, Heather Dunkel has come to think of the phone line as her lifeline. Every time the phone rings, or the call waiting clicks, her heart skips. Is it Stephen?

HER HUSBAND, an Army reservist, is stationed at the Baghdad International Airport. Until recently, he was able to call home once or twice a week. “You can imagine how beneficial these calls were to me,” she explains. “They also helped our 2-year-old daughter to know that her daddy still exists.”
But about two weeks ago, the frequent calls came to an abrupt halt. The Department of Defense ordered MCI, the provider for cheap cell-phone calls home, to cut off those phones for soldiers. They were intruding, it seems, on AT&T’s territory as well as clogging up official lines. Suddenly, soldiers not only had to go to calling centers, but they were paying a lot more to call home. AT&T got inundated with complaints. “A lot of family members I know have cancelled their service with AT&T over this,” Dunkel says.

http://msnbc.com/news/987615.asp?0cl=c1

I think we get lost in all the terrible 'Evil Doers' in the GOP and The Bush Crime Family and GOP Corporate America. In my opinion, this one issue is enough for the American Public to throw Bush and the rest of the GOP out of office next election.

Our soldiers should have free calls home to their loved ones.

This is absolutely disgusting!

[Don_G]

1. So That's The Story

I read a letter to the editor in "Stars & Stripes" where a wife couldn't contact her National Guard husband because MCI had cut off the service there.

They could ill afford it anyway as MCI charged $55 per short call, but they had some family-related details to work out like paying the bills on a reduced income and staying together as a family.

I guess Alimony and Child Support dosen't contribute much to the bottom line of Exxon, Texaco or to the campaign chest of the RNC.

[RC]

4. $55 is ridiculous.

I can call a remote island 4000 miles away for 10 cents a minute any time and talk as long as I want for that price.

Support out troups? yeah, right, sure bu$h&co does. But only for a profit.

[Don_G]

7. Yes It Is And I Also Apologize

For not providing the link to LTTE to "Stars & Stripes."

Bear in mind that the "news" coming out of the area is tightly controlled, the "news" coming from the White House is both controlled and redacted and these are only the ordinary GI's complaining, BUT---as yet---the only honest opinions and news I've seen so far as compared to Faux and others.

Link: http://www.estripes.com/section.asp?section=125

[PartyPooper]

2. Yes, I agree these soldiers should have unlimited free calls home.

But, also, I think the Iraqis should have the same level of 'up-and-running' phone service as well.

I haven't heard anything recently about the telephone system in Iraq; is it finally working?

BTW, what about the electricity and water? Last I heard, these were not consistently available around the country. Everyone in Iraq should have these basic services...not just the (lucky) troops in the palaces and other 'ritzy' venues--strictly reserved for mostly high-level brass of American and coalition forces.

Gee, I wonder if Halliburton has a toll-free number for "Customer Service"?

O8)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. Charging soldiers for phone calls home, hospital meals and many

for their own armor.

I thought we were supposed to support the troops... not the corporations who are over there raping them and us with inflated prices.

[michaud]

5. hello when is the national media gonna wake up?????@@@!!!!!!

[michaud]

6. this and other stories should be on the front page hard and long

[0007]

8. You'd think that Halliburton would lend a helping hand....

with all the money they're ripping off the American tax payers.

It just goes to show that Halliburton doesn't indeed appreciate the American soldiers protecting their cash cow.

[Rose Siding]

9. Aren't we the luckie duckies

msnbc finally decided to report on this. All it takes to fix this kind of crap is a media you can trust to pound on injustices where they find them. An informed public is the only chance to right such a wrong.

How long ago was the story in Stars $ Stripes? A week? Two?

[BiggJawn]

10. There is a FREE service available, but it's not widely deployed...

It's called MARS, or Military Affiliate Radio System. Guys (and gals)overseas or on board ships set up radio stations that look a lot like Ham Radio stations, then they call some old fart civilian volunteers like me stateside and we "phone Patch" them to their homes.

But the budget has been cut into the bone (Navy-Marine Corps MARS get less than a megabuck a year. Not even enough for "Official Business" postage) and since most ships have Email via INMARSAT and ATT provides "cheap" phone cards to the troops, there are not as many MARS stations deployed on station as there was in Nam or Korea...

[Voltaire99]

11. If these military people can't vote their interests in 2004...

...then there's no hope for them.

Treated like shit, they should desert the GOP en masse. Will they?

Just watch, in the coming months, the right wing cultural machinery at work - telling them they've been betrayed by liberals, left to die in Iraq for nothing by Howard Dean, their wage and benefit increases blocked by treachorous Democrats...

All lies. And it'll work.

[SoCalDem]

12. google.. soldiers free phone cards

there are organizations giving phone cards for soldiers' use.. Some of the care package people have ordered these (I think)..

If you know a soldier over there, please check it out..