Emotional lifelines: channels of communication for military families

We are indebted to

Clare Gibson, of The Army Children Archive (TACA), http://www.archhistory.co.uk
for her permission to publish a copy of this article which can be found on the TACA drum blog

The military lifestyle is not usually compatible with a settled family life. Not only are they often on the move as family units, but forces families are frequently divided. This may happen during times of conflict, when military personnel are sent on active service to combat zones, leaving civilian family members behind, and during peacetime, when they go on exercise, for example, sometimes for prolonged periods. And many children of mobile military families must regularly exchange their homes for boarding schools during term time. During such periods of separation, it is vital for families to keep the channels of communication open, with the ways in which they have historically done so* reflecting changing technology.



Until relatively recently, the most common way for separated forces families to communicate with one another was by post, usually through the British Forces Post Office (BFPO); more information about the BFPO, as well as about BAOR postcodes and BFPO numbers, is given on TACA’s ‘Memories & miscellanea’ page. (And an item added to TACA in December 2010, ‘BACKGROUND INFORMATION: A SINGULAR AND MOST UNUSUAL SUB-POST OFFICE', looks at the sub-post office that once existed at the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Dover, Kent.) Regular telephone contact has also become increasingly possible following the advent of mobile phones, but maintaining this is more difficult when a family member is on active service – often for security reasons – which is when free ‘blueys’ (aerogrammes) and e-blueys (electronic blueys) may come into their own (for further details, see the BFPO website: http://www.bfpo.mod.uk/).



When it comes to modern media, today’s generation of forces families is increasingly turning to the internet with which to keep in touch using e-mail, instant-messaging and social-networking services (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Twitter, for instance), as well as e-blueys. Envisaged as functioning along similar lines as other social-networking websites, but created with the families of the British armed forces specifically in mind, those behind the HomeFront Forces website hope, funds permitting, to provide an age-appropriate – that is, for younger children – and secure link between separated forces families (visit the website to read more about its aims: http://www.homefrontforces.org/).



Chronicling as it does the history of British army children – and increasingly also of navy and RAF children – TACA tracks developments and initiatives that affect and support forces children. The rapid rise of the internet, mobile phones and social-networking sites clearly transformed the way in which military children communicated with their absent parents during the first decade of the twenty-first century. But will these communications media soon become outdated in their turn? And, if so, what will replace them?






*As well as being a fascinating read, Judith Millidge’s book, Letters from the Front (Brassey’s (UK) Ltd, London, 2002), provides a comprehensive historical overview of the logistics of communication between the battle front and the home front.