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My mother was telling me about the situation of her friends daughter.
This girl's husband got back from Iraq 6 months ago. He recently found he was going to be deployed to Afgahnastan (sp?) in early July. They are first time parents and the delivery date is early July, also. The girl thinks because she is friends with the wife of her husbands commander and because it's a first child he will get push his deployment by a few months. When my mom related this story to me, it just made me curious...do they ever get to push a deployment for this kind of thing? The husband is an officer (just out of the acadame) and does a special job...so there aren't a million people to fill his spot.
Anyway, my Mom asked me and I don't have a clue. Do you guys know if this ever happens?
I have only heard of one time where they actually let a soldier stay. However he had to report and he was at the drop off place until he was told last minute that he could stay behind for the birth of their child. Everyother than that, every other time they have had to go. It does not matter if the wife is friends with the CO's wife or not. The wife has no pull when it comes to matters of the military. She needs to prepare for the worst just in case.
I have only heard of one time where they actually let a soldier stay. However he had to report and he was at the drop off place until he was told last minute that he could stay behind for the birth of their child. Everyother than that, every other time they have had to go. It does not matter if the wife is friends with the CO's wife or not. The wife has no pull when it comes to matters of the military. She needs to prepare for the worst just in case.
Thanks for the input. That what my mom was thinking. Not much wiggle room while a war is going on.
My mother was telling me about the situation of her friends daughter.
This girl's husband got back from Iraq 6 months ago. He recently found he was going to be deployed to Afgahnastan (sp?) in early July. They are first time parents and the delivery date is early July, also. The girl thinks because she is friends with the wife of her husbands commander and because it's a first child he will get push his deployment by a few months. When my mom related this story to me, it just made me curious...do they ever get to push a deployment for this kind of thing? The husband is an officer (just out of the acadame) and does a special job...so there aren't a million people to fill his spot.
Anyway, my Mom asked me and I don't have a clue. Do you guys know if this ever happens?
I cringe when I read that they are "friends of the husbands commander" - the Army doesn't work like that with special benefits to "friends" -
The Army does "take care of its own" whether the soldier is an officer, enlisted, male, female.
If the soldier gets a note from the physician, sometimes that can delay his deployment. I'm sure the command will take care of him - not because he's a friend.
I'd also recommend that the pregnant wife get her family/in-laws to assist during the first few weeks/months if needed.
1. it's the army, things change, it's just an air window and the whole deployment *could* happen later for everyone
2. they might let him use his leave then but likely he'd have to start mobilizing with them in order to do that so it's all a matter of timing
3. if she goes into labor once he deploys they could send a red cross emergency message and his commander can use his discretion as to whether he can come home on emergency leave.
Thanks for all the info and replies. This is what I thought, that the army plays it straight, no special favors. My mom was just curious, but I think she thought this was the case, too.
My husband is in a tiny, very close-knit career field and they sometimes work things out amongst each other but if this is a unit deployment, where a bunch of people are all going at the same time, it seems unlikely unless they find someone to just take his place.
If I were them I would not count on it, especially if he is new to the career field and has not yet developed strong professional relationships with his unit. You never know though, but I think they need to plan for the worst-case scenario
I agree, not too likely to happen. We are a military family. Many of my friends have gone through childbirth alone while their husbands were deployed. One of my good friend's husband is a CO and my friend was scheduled to have a c-section 3 days after he was to deploy. Being the CO, he did have the option to stay back for a couple of weeks, but he decided to go with his troops.
The only time I have seen the Army let someone stay back was if there was serious health issues. Never for routine births...
I think there's a chance that the husband will get to stay behind until the birth. Maybe, maybe not -- it's really the commander's call. There actually is a lot of wiggle room. I also think the that the fact that the wife is a friend of the commander's wife also helps. I say that as someone who has 10 years of active duty service in the Army.
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