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  • Military Matters: "Reading For Readiness"
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  • Military Matters: "Reading For Readiness"
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  • Military Matters: "Reading For Readiness"

Many airmen and soldiers around Montana are preparing for overseas deployments, but at Malmstrom Air Force Base, there is a new way these military members can be in their own homes, even while they are thousands of miles away.

It's called the "Reading For Readiness" program, and it offers deploying troops the opportunity to record a personal video greeting to be seen by their families on DVD, after they leave.

Lieutenant Colonel Donald Jones, deputy commander of the 819th RED HORSE unit at Malmstrom, is preparing for another deployment, and he said, "It is very difficult, it gets harder when your children get a little bit older. You have to start preparing them for the responsibilities they will have to take on when you are gone."

So Jones is using the program to read a special bedtime story to his four children, one they can watch during his deployment to Afghanistan. Jones explained, "That helps the kids not only hear your voice, because kids have a hard time talking on the phone a lot of times, but actually see you and relate to you."

Technical Sergeant Joseph Hansen of the 341st Force Support Squadron commented, "It's important that families stay connected. Whether it's reading a book to your children at night or saying bedtime prayers. It's important to keep that communication line going."

A line of communication that sometimes isn't easy while serving in remote locations like Iraq or Afghanistan. Jones said, "There might be one or two phone lines total for several hundred people. Those phone lines usually aren't available for morale purposes."

The special green screen technology allows the airmen to choose their background on the video, adding a personal touch.

But no matter the message or story, it's the meaning behind the video that means the most. Hansen said, "When I see them choke up, it makes me a little emotional too, because I think about how it feels to leave my own children."

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