Published: May 08, 2008 08:00 am      

Phone home

Contacting family now easier for deployed soldiers

Deployed U.S. soldiers using the Blue Grass Army Depot as their connection to home now are able to use a system that is faster and less primitive than ones used in the past.

An automated directory attendant system is now being used for authorized “morale” calls, defined as 15-minute phone calls deployed soldiers are authorized to periodically make to loved ones.

“The integrated and automated communication infrastructure reduces costs for (the depot) and enables personnel who were manually transferring the calls daily to focus on other mission-critical communications,” said Jo Adail Stephenson, public affairs officer for the Blue Grass Army Depot.

The Amcom Smart Speech Morale Call system was installed in late March and already is making for smoother operations, said Col. Richard Mason, Blue Grass Army Depot Commander. Amcom Software Inc. is based in Minneapolis.

“It enables us to streamline our communications operations and, at the same time, to more efficiently handle the volume of these important calls,” he said.

The system has the ability to process an average of about 150 calls per day and up to 1,000 to 1,500 weekly.

Soldiers dial their designated Army base phone number, then he or she will be prompted to speak the number he or she wants to dial. The system connects the soldier and the call is timed and disconnected after 15 minutes, according to information at www.amcomsoft.com.

If the system fails to understand because of a bad connection, the caller will be sent to an operator.

“It’s beneficial to those using the system because it accelerates the speed of answering calls while reducing both call abandonment and hold time,” Stephenson said.

Murray Meizlish, telecommunications site manager for Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield based in Georgia, explains in a story posted at amcomsoft.com, the reason soldiers can get more use out of the new system.

“Soldiers overseas typically use tactical telephones,” he said. “The keypads on these phones don’t generate tones that can be recognized by standard touchtone systems. That means that soldiers had to call into a board, be forwarded to the states, get transferred to an operator, then finally get connected for their morale call.”

Contact Stephenson at 1-859-779-6221 with questions or for more information about the new “Morale Call” automated system.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.