Marine Stationed in Iraq, Meets His Daughter Through Video Conferencing

Cpl. Brandon Hotard, A Marine stationed in Iraq, met his newborn daughter for the first time through a video conference. The video conference was setup in Connecticut, through the efforts of St. Francis Hospital and the Freedom Calls Foundation. The foundation has built a satellite network to keep families connected through the limited Internet infrastructure in Iraq.

Wednesday’s video conference was the first time the family of three was able to be “together” since Hotard’s deployment. To partake in the video conference, Hotard is required to travel across the war zone from Baharia to Fallujah since that is the only location that has the equipment required to interface with the video conferencing that Freedom Calls enables.

I’m so thankful that Saint Francis Hospital stepped up to help us in our time of need. I thought I’d be having this baby alone and could never have imagined that my husband could be here to meet the baby when he is 8,000 miles away fighting a war. This means the world to me and my family.

Freedom Calls will arrange for the Hotards to video conference three times a month from their home so that the family can stay in touch, and so that Brandon can see his daughter grow up. The family video conferences are being conducted over the satellite network that Freedom Calls has built in cooperation with the Army and Marines to serve U.S. deployed military personnel and their families 24 hours per day, free of charge. It is funded 100% by donations from the public.