MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C., -- Day-to-day military life sometimes does not have the lure of Hollywood. The long-distance, letter-writing, heart-string pulling romances of the World Wars depicted on the big screen have nostalgia, but are seldom found in the day and age of instant communication.
Every so often, however, things just seem to work out in a fashion that could only be written for the likes of fairy tales or made-for-TV movies.
One such occasion is the selection of Marines as an advance party to return home, June 29, before the remainder of their squadron, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251.
An advanced party is selected to “get everything back up to par so it looks like no one ever walked out of here,” said Gunnery Sgt. Ty Jones, the VMFA-251 logistics chief.
So what is so fairy-tale-like about this advance party? Six of the Marines had babies born while they were on their 6-month deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“When the jets come back, you need to have a certain person from each section to maintain it and get it back down (safely),” Jones added. “It just kind of worked out that each section had a father come back.”
The ability for VMFA-251 to support mission completion while keeping in mind troop welfare had these fathers extremely happy to be home to meet their new born babies.
Sgt. Adam McKinley, a VMFA-251 aviation ordnanceman, called the day he returned early and saw his three-week-old daughter, Elizabeth, the best day of his life.
“I’ve seen pictures, but it does not compare to seeing her for the first time,” said the joy-filled father, who had only seen his daughter in photographs his wife, Jenna, emailed to him while on deployment.
McKinley said he and his new family planned to relax over the first couple of days of his return and then spend time with and introduce Elizabeth to extended family. After all the excitement of the return, relaxation seemed to be exactly what the young man needed.
“When we were actually on the plane, it was unreal,” McKinley said. “I was kind of nervous, actually.”
Elizabeth was the McKinley’s first baby.
Many things can change over the span of a deployment. Adam is confident the birth of his little girl is one of the good changes he and his wife will adjust to easily.
“[My wife and I] work together pretty well; we have been together since I was 16 and we just hit our three year wedding anniversary,” said the 22-year-old father. “She is always going to have her set ways, but I think she will let me work in there and help out.”
A veteran of fatherhood, Sgt. Dietrick Zook, a VMFA-251 aviation ordnance technician, thought he would be able to make it home for the birth of his daughter, Willow. He was a few weeks late for his wife Tahlor’s delivery June 11.
Being away for the birth of his second child meant Dietrick missed out on the baby leave afforded to fathers in the service, but the mission first mentality that non-commissioned officers need, helped him keep things in perspective.
“I am home and that is all that really matters,” Dietrick said.
He added that he plans to just sit back and watch how his 2-year-old son acts around his new little sister and hopes that one day the ability to sleep through loud noises he acquired over deployment will one day fade away so he can wake up in the middle of the night when his daughter needs him.
From day one, every Marine understands it goes God, Country, Corps and, at times, family falls in line where it can. As a Marine, you may not be “promised a rose garden” but, every now and again, dreams do come true.