At any time, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cush Newman can be with his family in Davidsonville even as he is stationed thousands of miles away in Djibouti in East Africa
“The kids really like being able to look at their daddy anytime they want,” said his wife, Cathleen Newman, a stay-at-home mom with four children.
Through Comcast Corp.?s On Demand service, Troop Greetings, families now can go online and download the personalized greetings onto their computers or load them onto their iPods, said Alisha Martin, the public relations manager for Comcast.
The service has been available for about the last four years, but only through the TV, she said.
Comcastofficials said 1,000 messages from the troops are now available to almost 9 million customers throughout the Washington, D.C., corridor, the Pittsburgh region and New England.
The greetings can be viewed until the end of January, Martin said.
In his video, which is about a half-minute long, Cush Newman wishes his family a merry Christmas and happy holidays.
“He said hi to everyone and that he was going to see us soon,” said his son Clay, 9, who is really looking forward to seeing him in real-life really soon.
This is the longest time Newman?s been away from home, said his family, which also includes Sydney, 7; Mark, 5; and Thomas, 18 months.
Newman is expected to return in February after a year of active duty.
“We?ve now started our countdown to see him again,” Newman said.