Sergeant witnesses birth of son 10,000 miles away

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Denise Burnham
  • 40th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (AFPN) --  Tech. Sgt. Troy Goodman did not sit by his wife's hospital bed when she gave birth to their second son. Instead, he sat more than 10,000 miles away in tent city watching the delivery via Webcam.

“I was woken up at 2 a.m., and got in touch with my wife at 3 a.m. By 4 a.m., I was logged into the IP address and the Webcam was up and working,” said Sergeant Goodman, the noncommissioned officer in charge of munitions inspections for the 40th Expeditionary Munitions Flight at a forward-deployed location.

The Goodmans first heard about the idea of a possible Webcam delivery from a family friend. The friend used her contacts to get in touch with the right people at Rapid City Regional Hospital in Rapid City, S.D. Without the Webcam, a phone call would have been the only other option.

On the day of delivery, everything was pre-positioned in both locations.

Before his wife, Valerie, went into labor, the hospital’s communications department staff coordinated with people from the 40th Expeditionary Communications Flight to work out all the technical aspects between the civilian hospital and the deployed location.

After hospital workers sent the IP address, each user made adjustments to their systems.

“We had to run several network tests,” said Jake Ward, a computer technician at the hospital. “Once we had a successful test call, I trained a few nurses to use the system too. I was on call for a couple of weeks in case she went into labor during nonduty hours.”

"We had problems with audio at first, and the video was a little choppy at the beginning, but it finally smoothed out," said Tech. Sgt. Samuel Nye, the NCOIC for the flight’s help desk. "I have never done anything like this before for a customer."

“My wife could see me, but the screen would freeze up periodically; the connection on my end worked fine,” Sergeant Goodman said. “I kept logging off and logging back in trying for a better connection.”

Finally Aug. 3, after spending eight hours in a private chat room, Sergeant Goodman took a look at his newborn son, Gavin Dean Goodman.

"When Gavin was born the doctor held him up to the camera first, and then gave him to my wife," Sergeant Goodman said.

Help with this feat came from all directions.

Although both parents were separated geographically, neither husband nor wife were alone for the special delivery. Mrs. Goodman's sister came from California to assist her during the actual birth.

Retired Master Sgt. Rose Redder, a base-housing neighbor and family friend, watched Sergeant Goodman's 3-year-old son and his sister-in-law's children when his wife was admitted to the hospital.

The Redders and Goodmans have known each other for more than six years.

"My wife is newly retired from the Air Force, and she has been puttering around the house for a few months," said Master Sgt. Scott Redder, flight chief for the 40th Expeditionary Armament Flight. "We're just down the street, so she was happy to help by watching the kids."

This is Sergeant Goodman's second deployment since Sept. 11, 2001. He had the option to deploy after the baby was born, but the couple discussed their alternatives and decided it was best for him to be back when he would be the most needed -- after the baby arrived.

"He was convinced about joining us on this deployment so he could be there for his family after the new addition was born," said 2nd Lt. Otto Brown, 40th Expeditionary Munitions Flight commander.

Sergeant Goodman's flight commander was the first person he shared the news with here.

"Lieutenant Brown walked in as soon as the birth was over at 11 a.m.," Sergeant Goodman said. "He brought me something to eat and drink when he came to check on me."

"I was happy for him, and I wanted to make every effort possible for him to ‘be there’ when she delivered," Lieutenant Brown said.

“After the baby was born, I went right back to bed. I was whipped after that,” Sergeant Goodman said. “Later on that night, I celebrated with some cigars and close friends.”

His deployed leaders have made arrangements to get Sergeant Goodman back home on the earliest flight available at the end of the rotation. When he arrives back in the United States, he plans to hang out at home and get to know his new son.