SAN DIEGO — Teresa Reynolds, daughter Kelsea, son Tyler and their miniature dachshund Sable settled into chairs Saturday morning at the San Diego Supercomputer Center for an early Christmas present.
A satellite connection was established, and soon Marine Master Gunnery Sgt.-select Kenneth Reynolds was on the screen from the air base at Al Asad, Iraq, as part of a program to keep military families in touch with deployed loved ones through teleconferencing.
There was laughter, a few tears, some jokes about shipping Sable to Iraq in a Christmas stocking, and then some inquiries from Dad about how Kelsea, 16, and Tyler, 12, were doing in school.
Finally the joking and asking of questions fell away.
"I miss you," Kenneth Reynolds, a noncommissioned officer in charge of a crew of air controllers, said quietly.
"I miss you, too, sweetheart," his wife said.
For nearly two years, the Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego has been helping Marine and Navy families communicate with relatives in Al Asad and Fallouja.
The families Saturday were from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. On other weekends, the families have been from Camp Pendleton.
Civilian support for military members and their families is evident year-round in San Diego County, where the Navy and Marine bases are a defining part of the region's social and political landscape, which sets it apart from the rest of Southern California.
Now, amid the seventh holiday season that local troops have been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, support for the families appears strong -- both among corporations and the public.
The Armed Services YMCA, in conjunction with Sony, helped 103 families make DVDs last week to ship to family members in Iraq.
A coalition of credit unions provided teleconferencing at Camp Pendleton. And more than 1,200 Christmas trees were delivered to Camp Pendleton and Miramar by FedEx and a private foundation.
KOCT, the community-access channel in Oceanside, has held 13 teleconferencing sessions in the last 18 months between family members and troops in Fallouja.
On Saturday, what was billed as the season's largest Christmas party for military families in Southern California was underway at San Diego Harley- Davidson.
More than 2,000 family members (and some Harley devotees) enjoyed barbecue, a rock 'n' roll band, games for the children and $60,000 worth of free Harley regalia.
