FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Army wife Jackie Kay-Jones knows the routine of deployment.
"The calls are few and far between," she said.
But a walk up a flight of stairs and few steps down a hallway help thousands of miles and months of separation vanish.
Families of soldiers deployed overseas stare into a camera, knowing their soldier will stare back over and over.
"It's almost like a video postcard. We find people go back and watch it over and over again," said the video technician to the Olson family as they’re sitting down to record their video.
The Olson kids get the cue they’re recording and they begin cheering: "Hi daddy, hi daddy."
JaNina Olson and her kids brave her husband's third deployment. He'll instantly be able to access this video online or on a CD, and JaNina hopes to connect to a day-to-day life back at home.
"Did you tell him about football?” she asks her son.
America's Credit Union Manager Kenneth Leonard knows what can't be spoken in this room, and the why 10 minutes in front of these cameras may matter for the rest of someone's life.
"The sad part about it is, this could be potentially the last thing they say to their father or mother, because of what happens in war," he said.
More people than ever signed up to step behind that door and send a message to their loved ones overseas. For some, it's their first Christmas without their father at home.
Jackie Key-Jones talks into the camera, recording a message with her sons for her husband Frank.
"Boys wanted to read The Night Before Christmas to you, because you've always been home to read it to them," she says.
Even while they're deployed, traditions live on and families stay together, if only through microphones and monitors... until they're able to say it face to face.
"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night," the Key-Jones kids say into the camera.
This is the sixth year for Operation Best Wishes. More than a hundred families signed up to record the video messages.
