CAMP DOUGLAS, Wis. - By the time the 101 airmen of the 128th Air Control Squadron return to the United States in mid-May, the unit could have as many as seven new babies to add to its family.
The unit, based at Volk Field in Camp Douglas, Wis., deployed to Southwest Asia in November 2012, where it is responsible for surveillance and air defense of allied forces in the region. It is due to return home sometime in mid-May, where a group of fathers — seven percent of its deployed force — will meet their babies for the first time.
"I've got to keep pinching myself to realize that yeah, I've got a baby on the way, because I'm not there to see the day-to-day changes and see her every day," said Master Sgt. Shane Deloughary, of Fond du Lac, Wis., when describing the changes he has seen in his wife via photos.
When the 128th deployed to Southwest Asia in November, his wife, Jennifer, was just beginning to show. The couple is expecting their second child together around the same time the unit expects to return home.
"She is due [in May], right around the time we come back," he said on a telephone call from Kuwait. "It's going to be really close. My wife wants me to try to nail down a date when we're coming back, because she is thinking about being induced early, so she can meet me up at the base."
Deloughary is not alone.
Maj. Chris Divyak, of Tomah, Wis., had his first child, a boy, on April 22, but reality has yet to set in for him. Like Deloughary, he monitored his wife's progress through Skype, emails, and photos she sent him along the way.
"Ultimately I've been handling it well," Divyak said from the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, where he serves as the officer in charge of the 128th's night shift. "It is going to be a surprise when I get home. And you have some nights where you have a hard time falling asleep, because you're either excited or curious or wondering what it's going to be like when you get back home."
Divyak said he has used Skype and email to communicate and watch his son grow on video or through emailed photos. Finding time to stay connected across continents and an 11-hour time difference has proven difficult at times, but his wife, Megan, has held up well, he said.
"I haven't had a child before, so I don't really know what to expect, but Megan's pretty independently strong. She's doing well with it.
"It's going to be a rude awakening when I get home," he added. "I keep saying to myself, 'The one thing I want to do is sleep in silence when I go home,' but that is not going to happen, I know. At least not for a few years yet."
Meanwhile, Airman 1st Class Jake Johnson, of La Farge, Wis., is expecting a son as well.
"I'm finding out I'm missing a lot," he wrote in an email. "This is our first child together. It makes it tough some days when she's talking about it moving all the time and being active and not being there to experience things like that with her."
Johnson's son is due in early June.
Others had their babies while deployed, including Capt. John McKenna, whose son was born in November, just two weeks after arriving in the Middle East.
The same is true for Maj. Michael Western, of Waverly, Iowa. He and his wife, Kathryn, had a son in January whom he is looking forward to meeting in just a few short weeks.
"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger," he wrote in an email. "It has been a long haul. As sad as the initial feeling of leaving was, the anticipation of coming [home] dwarfs that."
Master Sgt. Ryan Severson, whose wife gave birth April 27, and Senior Airman Mitch Kesan rounded out the list of Airmen in the 128th expecting babies during the deployment.
Maj. Divyak said many of the pregnant wives got together for a unit baby shower to honor the additions to the 128th Air Control Squadron family.
"I have to give kudos to the 128th family support program," he said. "There have been numerous couples that are pregnant, and they threw a baby shower for anybody that could attend."