Earlier this week I Twittered that my father had returned home after a year-long, military stint in Kosovo.

Well, the folks at ooVoo were obviously paying attention, because yesterday they let me know that they had donated 500 web cameras and microphones to U.S. Air Force personnel, making it easier for soldiers to have video chats with their families during their tours of duty.

I don’t know how we would have kept in touch with my father for the last 12 months were it not for VOIP technology. We mostly stuck to voice chat (my father would call us using Yahoo! Voice Out for just a penny or two a minute), but it isn’t hard to forget one of the few times we added video to the mix.

Video chat with my father on Christmas Day 2006

It was on Christmas Day, and our house was packed with visitors who wanted to share the occasion with my young son Amani, who was just 9 weeks old at the time (hard to believe he’s just turned 1!). We rigged a setup using my sister’s Mac (web cam but no support for Yahoo! Voice) and our landline phone, while my father borrowed a web cam from one of his colleagues on the military base.

As we chatted, I held Amani on my lap, so that my father could get his first live look at his grandson. Each of my relatives then took a turn saying hello, including uncles, aunts, and cousins that shouted from the back of the room. It was loud and hectic, but also gave us all a meaningful and emotional holiday connection with my dad … all things considering.

It can be a lonely life for servicemen abroad, especially for guys like my father, who didn’t even venture off the military base more than a handful of times during his 12-month stay in Kosovo. And while video chat certainly can’t replace in-person interaction (which I’m thrilled and relieved we can now resume with my father on a regular basis, since he lives just a few miles from our house), it certainly can liven up the communications possibilities for soldiers away from home.

So, good on ooVoo for its donation. You can bet those 500 web cams will make for plenty of smiles — and tears — this holiday season.

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