Photo By Sgt. Jeff Ledesma | Sgt. 1st Class Rex Fortner, a retention noncommissioned officer with Headquarters...... read more read more
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By Pfc. Jeffrey Ledesma
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – When she was born, he was away taking the career counseling course. On her first birthday, he was deployed to Iraq. Now he's back in the Middle East, missing her third.
Sgt. 1st Class Rex Fortner, a retention noncommissioned officer with Headquarters Company, 1st Cavalry Division, signed a reenlistment contract and pinned on more rank with his family present via a video teleconference call on his youngest daughter Raychel's third birthday, Nov. 27.
"We call her 'Ray Ray' because she's like a little ray of sunshine. She has the type of personality and a smile to match that when she walks into a room she just brightens the whole place up," Fortner said with a laugh.
Fortner said while the rest of his unit deployed north to Baghdad, he was one of two people who stayed behind manning a retention cell had set up in Kuwait.
Although he was supposed to be promoted there, his unit wanted to wait until he got to Iraq because they planned to promote him in a big way.
"They were thinking we [could] do [it at] the castle or under the arches in the Green Zone," Fortner said. While waiting to set foot in Iraq, his promotion was delayed.
"If I had to wait that long, I'd rather wait until the 27th and do a VTC so I could see my youngest daughter for her third birthday," the native of Converse, Texas said.
"It meant the world to me to have my family here in a sense," Fortner tearfully said. "My wife is my best friend, and my kids are the two most important things in the world to me.
"It was a nice treat to be able to see her and say 'Happy birthday' in person," he said. Still, missing another birthday was difficult for this Army dad who has dedicated 13 years of his life to the service.
"I have a job to do and she understands," he said. "I mean, it definitely hurts, but I'm no different from the several other thousand Soldiers that are here away from their families."
So when Fortner is home he makes sure that he takes advantage of every moment.
On Raychel's second birthday they had a four-day celebration, party after party – one with his family, another with his wife's family, one with Raychel's friends and then another with his wife's extended family.
"Last year she made out like a bandit. That's for sure," Fortner said.
This year's deployment is Fortner's second trip to Iraq and this time around leaving wasn't as difficult, he said.
"It was a mixture of joy and pain," Fortner said. "Last time I deployed they had to drop me off and they weren't able to spend any time with me because I deployed later."
This time, Fortner and his family showed up at the gym and he got to spend several hours with them before heading to the airport.
"[The extra family time] was all about getting the girls to understand 'Daddy's going away,' and after I walked out of the gym it would be awhile before they'd see me again."
Although he got to spend more time with his family, Fortner said, "You'll always miss home when you're away and having to say good-bye was gut wrenching."
Fortner said that as they were saying their final goodbyes his eldest daughter, 4-year-old Saara, had her arms wrapped around his neck tightly and would not have let go if it weren't for her grandfather being present.
"I really thought I was going to have to take her on the plane with me," he added.
When deployment orders became official, missing another birthday was out of the question, so the Fortner's threw an early birthday party in October for little blonde-haired Raychel.
Fortner said that the little ray of sunshine and her older sister can also be a hurricane of a handful.
"Kids can enter a room and they can turn it from completely neat into just demolished in seconds and my kids just have this ability to do it in half the time of a normal child," he said. "They are truly offspring of their father."
Being away had Fortner missing the simple things of being home.
"I miss the messy rooms. I miss getting up in the middle of the night to screaming children," Fortner said. "Most kids, when you put them to bed at night want water, something to eat. 'I want this,' 'I gotta go potty,' 'I gotta do this,' but with my two, it's 'Daddy, I want to snuggle with you.' You can't imagine how many hot meals over here I'd trade for just five minutes of snuggle time with those two girls."
Whether trading hot meals or waiting to pin on rank, Fortner would do anything for a bit of quality time with the sister 'Hurricane Duo,' he said.
As he finally pinned on the rank of Sgt. 1st Class onto his patrol cap he said that he'd been waiting to wear the rank for 27 days.
With his family taking part, it was certainly worth the wait.
| Date Taken: | 11.27.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 12.05.2006 09:56 |
| Story ID: | 8487 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 77 |
| Downloads: | 30 |
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