#FlashbackFriday: An Exchange Initiative Helps Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Phone Home

According to an item on a history reader in the Exchange Associate Flickr, by May 31, 2008, Americans sent 270,000 phone cards to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere under a program called “Help Our Troops Call Home.”

That was 16 years ago today, but the Help Our Troops Call Home program started four years before that.

Shortly after Operation Enduring Freedom began, the Exchange received a flood of calls from everyday Americans who wanted to know how they could support the troops. On April 15, 2004, with Department of Defense authorization, the Exchange launched an ambitious plan to deliver military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone cards to U.S Military men and women serving in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Anyone could buy a card by going to the Exchange’s website at the time or calling a special phone number. Callers could then donate the cards, which were sent to troops so they could call loved ones back home.

This marked the first time in Exchange history that the organization had sold anything to anyone other than authorized customers, which at the time were primarily active-duty, guard and reserve members, retirees and their family members. By the end of the program’s first 12 months, the initiative had generated nearly $2 million to help Airmen, Soldiers, Marines and Sailors stay in touch with loved ones. The funds were used to purchase and distribute 78,431 Military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone cards.

Phone cards purchased through the “Help Our Troops Call Home” program could also be sent to individual service members or “any service member” through the American Red Cross, USO, Air Force Aid Society or the Fisher House Foundation. Within the program’s first year, the charitable organizations had distributed 26,767 phone cards.

Even before the “Help Our Troops Call Home” program started, the Exchange had found ways to help troops connect with loved ones. In 2003, the Exchange provided more than 600 AT&T satellite phones to troops serving in Iraq and installed six phone centers in the country. The phone centers consisted of a tent with 48 phones, a satellite tower and a generator. During a rodeo operation in Tikrit, the Exchange distributed 20 satellite phones to troops—who made 1,500 calls during a three-day period.

By April 2005, 64 Exchange phone centers had been set up throughout Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. The centers were crucial in keeping deployed troops and their families in touch. Troops using the Military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone cards at these calling centers generated nearly 20 million total minutes of calls in February 2005 alone.

The program was advertised in mainstream civilian newspapers, which also occasionally reported on the initiative. On the Veterans Day 2009 “Salute to the Military” episode of “The Price is Right,” host Drew Carey, a Marine Corps Veteran and ardent military supporter, told viewers about the phone cards.

Source: Exchange Post archives