Press Main  /  In the News  /  Press Releases  /  Press Packet Video offers Soldiers glimpses from home Tawny Archibald Campbell, Bayonet staff Tawny Archibald Campbell Courtney Pierce makes a video of her daughters, Abby and Avery, to send to HomeMovie.Com. The video will be encoded and put on the Internet for her husband, 2nd Lt. Chris Pierce, to see while deployed to Iraq with the 36th Engineer Group. "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.