Posted on 08/30/2012 6:21:00 PM PDT by Toespi
Military folks need some info please. Was in a restaurant this evening and got to talking to our waitress. She proudly told us her 21 year old Air Force daughter was literally on her way to Afghanstan as we were speaking. She is worried for her and mentioned she would not be able to communicate with her for a long time. I asked why and she said she can't afford a phone or computer a computer would be out of the question. She lives alone and makes a base pay of $800.00 a month. She had borrowed a friends cell phone for the past couple of days to text with her daughter. Somewhere I heard that there is a family program available that offers free computers to families to be able to Skype, email etc. with their loved ones deployed. Does anyone know anything about this and if so, who would I contact to get ths info for her. Thanks.
Your waitress is a liar.
I’m not a vet, but I do work in the tech industry and I’m a strong supporter of vets. Try http://www.computersforsoldiers.org/ it looks like they do some great work. $800.00 a month isn’t a lot, but I suggest that an iPad priced at $399.99 it would be a great solid machine that will last her a solid 10 years and run Skype with voice and video chat. I’m also partial to the iPod touch its priced at $199.00 and functions like an iPhone without the data plan and can run the Skype app. She could also buy a droid tablet for $199.00 Google’s introducing a new one and rumor has it that Apple will be making an iPad mini for $250.00. I’m very impartial to Apple their products are TOUGH and they last forever. If you have any tech related questions concerning the laptop purchase please FReepmail me I’ll be happy to help.
How do you know that?
While I served, I found pen and paper to be very useful to communicate with my wife, daughters, and mom...am I a walking anachronism? “In theatre” she has no postage to pay; it’s free to send stateside. All she has to do to post a letter is write the word “free” in place of a stamp.
She might also check out the USO facilities.
See post 24...
My son just got home from being stationed in Afghanistan. He is in the infantry and was stationed in a remote combat outpost for his full deployment. Only during the first month and a half, while he and his unit were setting up their COP, was he out of communications, and that was primarily because their communications tent got hit with a mortar. After that, he had access to Satellite Phones, email, and Skype. Most of the time he just emailed because the lines to use the communication facilities was long.
That being said, if this woman is in the Air Force, she will be on a larger base which will have plenty of resources for her to call, skype, or email home. My son said that the Airbase in Bagram was so big, that they could ride a bus for 30 minutes to get to different locations. Bagram also had multiple facilities for calling home, so I'm sure this Air Force woman will not have a problem calling home, regardless of her pay or if she brought her own cell phone or computer.
First of all, no one tells a complete stranger a sob story like that unless they are trying to get something. She was milking you for a fatter tip and repeat business. Secondly, waitresses make good money.
You swallowed the hook, sucker.
Love it! After my husband tipped her $20.00 for a $30.00 meal and while walking to the car, we remembered 1968/1969 my USAF husband was in Korea during the USS Pueblo incident, he said, well she can write her daughter, like we did. How easily we forget.
If she has a land line phone she should ditch it and get a cell phone. She can keep her old number if she wants to. A decent Phone will do text messaging / instant messaging and email.
After my husband tipped her $20.00 for a $30.00 meal
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fool
LOL - I think the same thing when I get blank stares from my kids after suggesting we walk to some place.
How about a computer at a local library.
Of course that was back in the day when you could actually count on the PO to do their job.
I’ve got 350 love letters from MrsSgtBob, and she has the same from me...won’t the GreatGrands have a hoot when they open that shoebox! ;-)
But she is still paying for 3G service every month, which over the course of a year will cost her more than a ew tablet, Ipad, or reasonable computer - let alone a two year contract.
I'd hate to see a person living on $800/mo blow $75/mo on 3G service that would support skyping.
Better to find something, somewhere, where whe could access. NOt sure what programs are out there, but if I knew someone in that situation - I'd let them use my computer as appropriate...
Just don't put someone that is already on financial ropes into a two year contract for data services with severe cancellation penalities. This lady needs to figure out how to get her income up, but in the meantime she doesn't need to sign a deal with the devil...
All she needs is a library card and a free email service like yahoo mail or gmail.
Post cards / paper and envelopes are cheap , so are stamps.
Her daughter will have access to email and she can mail back letters for free (all she has to do is write free where the stamp would normally go)
Forget texting , doing that can end up getting someone killed in a combat zone. Besides her daughter is not going to be able to answer in seconds no how .
She may find free wifi and that would cut costs considerably.
I hadn’t seen $75/mo data charges though - more like $30/mo. I’m presuming she already has cell phone service instead of an expensive landline. I went cell only in 1998 and it cut my phone bill considerably.
What she told you is complete and utter bulls**t. an E-1 in the military serving in Afghanistan makes a minimum $1800 a month tax free. Over here there are so many different ways to communicate with the folks back home I don’t have time to list them all. The US government provides SPAWAR facilities, Internet Cafes, MWR facilities, etc. SPAWAR provides phone service for 4 cents a minute at almost every FOB or COS in theatre. This stuff is all in my lane and I track it daily so tell your waitress to get a better story.
Public Library has computers.
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