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Reunion by video link raises morale on homefront

Feb-19-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

Link to Full Article
T.A. BADGER, Associated Press

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas - Christina Favila hadn't been face to face with her husband since Christmas, when his Army Reserve unit shipped out to Iraq for a year, so she wanted to look her best.

She picked a crisp silvery-white tailored blouse and tan slacks for the occasion. Her eye makeup and soft pink lipstick were carefully applied, and her dark brown hair freshly streaked with bright orange highlights.

"I feel like I'm going on my first date," the 24-year-old mother of three said. "My hands are sweaty. I'm just nervous, I haven't seen him in so long."

All this fuss for just 10 minutes together, and they wouldn't be in the same room or even the same hemisphere.

The reunion came last weekend via a 7,500-mile live video link between this Army post in San Antonio and a U.S. base in Mosul, where Pfc. Juvenal Favila Jr. works as a clerk with the 228th Combat Support Hospital.

Almost since the war began in 2003, such high-tech hookups have provided morale boosts for soldiers who get to see their children born after deployment or watch a toddler blow out his first birthday candle.

Christina Favila had no watershed event to share - just a chance to see her and three young children lonesome for their dad.


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