Army Ten-Miler Participants Able To Connect With Deployed Spouses During Race Weekend
Posted Tuesday, 22 August, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC – To enhance the race weekend experience for military families participating in this year's Army Ten-Miler, TANDBERG, a Major Sponsor of the 2006 Army Ten-Miler, in conjunction with the Freedom Calls Foundation, is offering to visually connect runners and their deployed spouse or family member at four bases in Iraq.
Spouses of deployed members of the military can go for months without talking to, much less seeing, their loved ones. TANDBERG, a global leader in visual communication, works with Freedom Calls, a not-for-profit organization, to provide “face–to-face” experiences for families via videoconference. Together they deploy state of the art technology to keep troops visually in touch with their families at no charge. Bringing families together through the use of this technology is important for morale and helps shed light on the sacrifice that American military men and women and their families are making for this country.
TANDBERG will provide a private, videoconferencing area at the Race Expo, allowing participants to get last minute well wishes from their deployed spouse or family member. Connections will last approximately 15-20 minutes. 2006 runners have already received an email asking them to sign up by September 15 if they are interested in taking part in this opportunity. TANDBERG will also provide videoconferencing services at the press conference on Friday, October 6.
“TANDBERG is proud of our work with the U.S. military and the Army Ten-Miler. We are thrilled that we can play such a vital role in connecting soldiers from round the globe with their loved ones back home. We hope the visual communication experience will boost moral and spur on winning spirits.” Commented Joel Brunson, president of TANDBERG Federal.
The Army Ten-Miler thanks TANDBERG and Freedom Calls for giving this special opportunity to its runners. HOOAH!
About TANDBERG
TANDBERG is a leading global provider of visual communication products and services. The Company has dual headquarters in New York and Norway. TANDBERG designs, develops and markets systems and software for video, voice and data. The Company provides sales, support and value-added services in more than 90 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.tandberg.net.
About Freedom Calls
Freedom Calls Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity and a type B not for profit entity incorporated in the State of New York and registered with the Charities Bureau of the State of New York Department of Law. Its mission is to build a satellite communications network independent of military networks employing state of the art Wi-Fi, VOIP telephony, video conferencing and Satcom technology to enable American troops to communicate free of charge from their base camps with their families at home by internet telephone, instant messaging and video conference.
Freedom Calls is working to transform family communications in wartime to enable our soldiers, airmen and marines to keep their commitments to their families while they are thousands of miles form home keeping their commitments to their country. For more information, visit www.freedomcalls.org.
About the Army Ten-Miler
The 22nd Army Ten-Miler takes place on Sunday, October 8. Association of the US Army (AUSA) and KBR are the co-lead sponsors for this year’s event. This Army tradition annually attracts runners of a variety of experience levels from all over the world to run a course that starts and finishes at the Pentagon and passes such national landmarks as the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Race weekend activities include a two-day race Expo presented by Spring! by Dannon, clinics and a press conference. Race day features the Health Net Federal Services Youth Runs, the 94.7 Post Race Party featuring bands, entertainment and a live broadcast, the HOOAH Tent Zone, and the Health Net Federal Services Youth Activity Zone complete with Army racing displays, inflatables, the GEICO Gecko, and much more. For more information on DC’s premier running event, visit www.armytenmiler.com.
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