After the War Zone, the Baby Zone

According to an article in the New York Times, the army base at Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is experiencing a baby boom of unprecedented scope. The base is home to the 82nd airborne, division, some 22,000 troops who were deployed en masse in the Iraq "surge" — nine months after the soldiers began returning to their families, the surge was on at the local maternity ward. It's not just the 82nd; another nearly 30,000 soldiers also contributed to a flood of pregnancies that's swamping not only the hospital but also local businesses — apparently Target is selling out of cribs and the embroidery kiosk at the mall is all backed up doing camouflage nappy bags. Earlier this month, a mass baby shower was held to honor 1,000 soon-to-be mums at the base. 

It's hard to imagine a more joyful, positive response to returning from the dangers and deprivations of warfare, and I wish all those babies and their families much joy. Still, for many of these newborns, especially those with both parents in the military, life might not be as rosy as we'd wish. New mothers only get six months off the deployment list after giving birth (this was recently increased from three months), after which they can be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan. Fathers can be sent at any time. For the parents and the children, such separation can be heartbreaking, the damage felt long after a parent returns home (and felt always, of course, if a parent does not come home). 

A little birthday wish, then, from the non-military among us: may those new Ft. Bragg babies, born into two wars, come of age in a time of peace.