By Leo McGonagle, Army

Being away from family while deployed was always challenging, especially staying connected with my children, who found it hard to understand why Dad’s been gone so long. At one point well into my 2003 Iraq deployment, my then-2-year old daughter asked my wife, “Who is my dad?” This was painful to hear about, despite my efforts to stay connected. For children old enough to understand the possible consequences of war, concerns about the safety of a parent were always of concern to our children, so it was important to connect to let them know all was OK.

During my Gulf War deployment in 1990-91, we were lucky if we could call home by pay phone once every six weeks or so. This was also expensive. Aside from that, communication with family was 100 percent by snail-mail-- letters and coveted care packages.

Today, however, technology advances have enabled more frequent and rapid connections to those back home: email, digital photos (like this one) video chat and teleconferencing, and satellite phones. Additionally, trained and highly supportive Family Readiness Groups (FRGs) are a constant source of support to deployed soldiers and their families, and a great conduit of information flow.

Despite the hardships created by family separations as part of multiple overseas deployments, I wouldn’t trade the experiences, or my service to nation for anything, nor would my family. less