Communication

A lot of people have asked me how often I will be able to communicate with my family while deployed. The answer is: quite a bit. Email access in most areas is excellent. I don't yet know exactly where I will be deployed (I had thought I was going to Balad, but now I have found out that my exact assignment has not been made), so I can't say for sure what daily life, including communication, will be like. But email access will most likely be very, very good. In addition, I should have access to phone banks, if not a phone in my office, with which I can use a global calling card.

I'm also thinking about communication because I'm reading a book full of letters and emails collected from soldiers and their families, both American and from other nations, over the past 300 years. It's fascinating. The book is called Behind the Lines, and is written by Andrew Carroll. Some of the letters are funny, some are insightful into the historical context, and others are tear-jerkers. I recommend it to anyone interested in military history from a different angle.