Wichita ? For families on the home front, the waiting and worrying of wartime will always be present. But for troops overseas and their families at home in Kansas, the widespread usage of e-mail has allowed people on the home front and the war front an instant source of comfort.

Mary Nunley of Kiowa, whose father served in the Korean War, knows communicating with her son in the Persian Gulf is far easier and more frequent than her mother’s contact with her father.

“Mom was lucky if she got a letter from him once a month,” Nunley said. “I don’t know how she did it.”

Nunley said e-mail had provided a “lifeline” between her and her son, Lance Cpl. Josh Nunley, who is stationed on the USS Bataan in the Persian Gulf.

“Just knowing that you have that connection really, really means a lot,” Nunley said.

Terra Razo, the wife of Capt. Jose Razo, is also glad to have e-mail to keep in touch with her husband.

“It eases the pain of separation,” said Terra Razo, who lives with the couple’s two daughters — 10-year-old Shelby and 6-year-old Mikaela — at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita.

In addition to receiving news from her husband, Razo said she tried to send him an uplifting e-mail every day. Many times, it’s simple stories. Razo wrote her husband to tell him that one daughter finally lost her loose tooth.

The girls also were excited to send their dad e-mails.

“It keeps us connected,” she said.

Even since the first Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, e-mail has expanded dramatically, making this the first war with the new form of instant communication.

Razo said she didn’t know how families in past wars got by without it.

“Not being able to communicate, not knowing anything about what was happening, you’d have to depend more on faith,” Razo said. “You still have to depend on faith, hope and love — but it eases the pain.”

Evon Bennett uses e-mail to keep in contact with her husband, Capt. Perry Bennett, who is overseas with the 450th Transportation Battalion. Bennett said that “nothing replaces the voice,” but she was still grateful for e-mail.

“If it wasn’t for e-mail, I’d be like many people are, wondering what the heck is going on and stuck more to the TV than I already am,” she said.

As leader of her unit’s family readiness group, Bennett also passes along information to families with relatives in the unit.

“I’m a tremendous fan of e-mail,” said Lt. Col. John Michel, commander of the 350th Air Refueling Squadron at McConnell. “It really goes a long way to our personnel being able to keep that combat focus.

“I really do believe it’s essential.”

Knowing that relatives at home are safe lets soldiers, sailors and airmen concentrate on doing their duty, Michel said.