The GI's are able to buy phone cards and have access to phones! For special occasions they can arrange video conferences via Internet. No need for phone patches!
That is truly amazing! It sure wasn't like that is SE Asia in the sixties. I'm glad their life, at least the communications, have improved. One note, on my nephew's prior tour in the Sandbox (last year) the comms were not so good. He was at two FOBs, neither of which had phone or even email access except for official business. There was nothing at all, of course, when they were deployed from the FOB. We kept hearing stories of "the lines will be up next week" but it never happened. Lines? Really? Things were much improved when they got back to the 'big base' at Kandahar to resupply. As much as some things in the military have changed, others are just as they were way back when!