On August 7, service members overseas were able to call loved ones back home at no cost, thanks to a VFW Operation UplinkTM“Free Call Day”(FCD). Troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, as well as hospitalized veterans, who made phone calls from their MWR center to the U.S. were greeted by a recording stating the call would be free, courtesy of Operation Uplink.
Deployed troops made over 50,000 connections home, totaling in hundreds of thousands of precious minutes of free phone time with family and friends.
This year VFW has provided two Free Call Days each month, more than ever before. Service members and their loved ones are sincerely thankful for the program.
Isabella Knox contacted VFW to express her appreciation, saying, “My son called from Afghanistan today. He's a corpsman with the Marines. I heard your group facilitated the calls over this weekend. Thank you so much!!!!”
Jeffrey Estep expressed his appreciation on VFW’s Facebook page. “When I was in Iraq we were able to use this service quite often, thank you very much for NOT putting a time limit on the calls.”
VFW Operation Uplink is the premiere calling program for deployed service members. Since 2006 the program has provided more than 5 million free phone calls home to loved ones.
Free Call Days are available at more than 700 Morale, Welfare and Recreation center Internet cafés using SPAWAR. Service members use their regular SPAWAR prepaid PIN number and then follow normal dialing procedures. If they don’t have a PIN, on the day of the FCD the café manager can issue them one. A sponsor message greets them before the call is placed to inform them the call is at no charge, and they are free to talk for as long as they are able.
Look for the next VFW Free Call Day August 28, as “VFW Salutes the Armed Forces.” Click here for the full Free Call Day schedule.