Military sets up video-phone link to Afghanistan
Updated Wed. Mar. 28 2007 6:41 PM ET Canadian Press
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HALIFAX -- It's hard to have an intimate conversation with the ones you love when a roomful of reporters, half a dozen television cameras and a forest of microphones are recording every whispered syllable.
But Warrant Officer Chris Saunders, who is posted to Afghanistan, and his wife Lori back home in Halifax with their five-week-old son, gamely gave it a try Wednesday.
The couple helped showcase a new real-time video-teleconferencing link the military says will allow families to stay in closer touch with those serving overseas.
As Chris sat in a small, humid booth thousands of kilometres away in Kandahar, Lori sat on a couch at the Military Family Resource Centre in Halifax, gently rocked a sleeping, blissfully oblivious Liam in her lap.
"I can see everybody," Chris said as a black-and-white image of the young soldier sprang to life on a video screen about three metres away from his wife.
"Hi honey, how are you? How are things?" Lori asked tentatively, mindful of the audience of reporters and military officials in the room.
After a few moments of awkward silence, shy greetings and small talk about the weather, they finally plunged in, mostly responding to questions posed by the media.
The Canadian soldier was home for his son's birth last month but has seen him only in e-mailed photos for a couple of weeks.
"I can't believe how much he's grown. He's so much longer," said Saunders, whose platoon is charged with base security in Kandahar
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Updated Wed. Mar. 28 2007 6:41 PM ET Canadian Press
Article Link
HALIFAX -- It's hard to have an intimate conversation with the ones you love when a roomful of reporters, half a dozen television cameras and a forest of microphones are recording every whispered syllable.
But Warrant Officer Chris Saunders, who is posted to Afghanistan, and his wife Lori back home in Halifax with their five-week-old son, gamely gave it a try Wednesday.
The couple helped showcase a new real-time video-teleconferencing link the military says will allow families to stay in closer touch with those serving overseas.
As Chris sat in a small, humid booth thousands of kilometres away in Kandahar, Lori sat on a couch at the Military Family Resource Centre in Halifax, gently rocked a sleeping, blissfully oblivious Liam in her lap.
"I can see everybody," Chris said as a black-and-white image of the young soldier sprang to life on a video screen about three metres away from his wife.
"Hi honey, how are you? How are things?" Lori asked tentatively, mindful of the audience of reporters and military officials in the room.
After a few moments of awkward silence, shy greetings and small talk about the weather, they finally plunged in, mostly responding to questions posed by the media.
The Canadian soldier was home for his son's birth last month but has seen him only in e-mailed photos for a couple of weeks.
"I can't believe how much he's grown. He's so much longer," said Saunders, whose platoon is charged with base security in Kandahar
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