Video Offers Soldiers Glimpses from Home
 "I'm going to talk to daddy," said Avery
Pierce, 2, as her mother, Courtney, pulled out a
video camera.
"She misses him," Courtney said. "She cries for
him a lot now, especially at night when she's
really tired."
Courtney, Avery and baby sister Abby are about
to make a video for 2nd Lt. Chris Pierce,
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 36th
Engineer Group. He deployed Jan. 7 from Doughboy
Stadium for a yearlong deployment to Iraq.
"He'll be really excited to get this, because he
keeps bugging me to send him short videos over
the Web cam, but I can't get it to work,"
Courtney said. "Since my kids can't write, they
can show off for their dad on the video."
The video is part of Operation Enduring Love, a
project began by HomeMovie.Com to connect
Soldiers to family members via StreamingDVD.
HomeMovie.Com, located in Winthrop, Wash.,
wanted to show their appreciation for the
dedication and sacrifices of the armed forces by
providing an opportunity for families of every
service member currently deployed in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom a
free 30-minute StreamingDVD video from their
loved ones back home, said Chris Jenkins, of
HomeMovie.Com.
"We will encode the videotape into
Hollywood-quality digital data and create an
interactive, StreamingDVD that the
servicemembers can access online in a
password-protected interface," Jenkins said.
"They can see the smiles and hear the laughter
from across the globe. They can still connect
with home."
Jennifer Allen-Tate, marketing director for
HomeMovie.Com said the idea came from the CEO's
wife, who heard a story on National Public Radio
about Soldiers who were missing much of their
family's lives while deployed.
"She felt like it was just heartbreaking to hear
about people being overseas and missing the
birth of babies," Allen-Tate said. "What we do
at HomeMovie.Com was a perfect fit to give a
glimpse of home to troops overseas. When we
heard about the idea, the entire company just
went nuts, and we all started working round the
clock to put this thing together."
The concept is simple. Family members go to
www.homemovie.com and fill out a free sign-up
form. Then they make a video and mail it to
HomeMovie.Com. The first 30 minutes of the tape
will be encoded, and an e-mail will be sent to
both the family and the service member letting
them know when the video has been put online and
what the password is.
Videos will remain online for a year, so
families can send the link to friends and
family. Only one tape per military service
person is permitted.
HomeMovie.Com also offers a program for military
members to send videos in monthly for $10 per
tape.
"You just imagine how hard it would be to be
separated from you family for so long, and we
feel like we have some small thing we can offer
here," Allen-Tate said. "It's not a miracle, but
it will let them come home for a little while,
if only for thirty minutes. It's more than an
e-mail or a photo or a phone call. It's almost
like a hug from home."
Submissions must include the name of the service
member, their military e-mail address and the
name of the video tape. Mail videos to
HomeMovie.Com, 31 West Chewuch Road, Winthrop,
WA 98862.
Once videos are encoded, they will be returned
at no charge.
For information or to sign up for the free
service, visit www.homemovie.com or call (877)
576-8777.
Tawny Archibald Campbell
Bayonet staff
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