Troops deliver child in Tallil tent city

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Don Perrien
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  The cluster of tents in the corner of tent city here that make up the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group was bustling with unusual activity recently. In facilities designed to support the needs of a deployed combat unit, 332nd Expeditionary Medical Support troops gathered together to deliver a healthy 7-pound baby girl to Moslem and Rafah Alrikabi -- the first child born here.

Moslem and his wife, Rafah, had worked with Italian army’s civil affairs agencies to coordinate their trip to the hospital here. The agencies are part of the coalition forces stationed in Al Nasiriyah. For the Alrikabi family, their trip here was only a short stop in a long journey looking for freedom.

After the 1991 Gulf War, Moslem had escaped Iraq and began a new life for himself and his family in America, finally settling down in Dearborn, Mich. After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, he returned to An Nasiriyah to visit and check in with family members he had not seen since leaving seven years ago.

Moslem, Rafah and their first daughter, Al’aa, spent a month reuniting with relatives who they feared had been lost. The family was planning their return to America, but their plan hit a crucial snag when their airline refused to allow Rafah on the plane in her advanced state of pregnancy.

“I came back to see my family,” Moslem said. “Now that Saddam is gone, I thought it was safe to see them again. We wanted (to go) back (to Dearborn to deliver the baby), but it wasn’t possible.”

After making sure the relatives they left behind were safe and cared for, the Alrikabi’s focused their attention on their own family matters. Rafah began having contractions, and they became increasingly closer until they knew the baby was coming.

Staff Sgt. Kent Willette created a makeshift delivery room and nursery from the hospital’s primary care area. Sliding a spare bed out of the way and moving some equipment, he left a single bed alone in the hastily formed cubicle. As an independent duty medical technician, he has made the best of limited resources for the past three months, but making a delivery room in a combat hospital was not exactly what he said he imagined doing at the start of his day.

“I’ve seen a lot of things here, some of them horrible -- but this was beautiful,” Willette said. “I’ve worked (in) labor and delivery for three years, and it’s my favorite thing.

“I was ready to move mountains to make this happen,” he said. “Building a delivery room wasn’t going to be a problem.”

Over in the examination room, Army Maj. (Dr.) Elizabeth Shanley knew she would need the delivery room soon. The physician said she expected to have many chances practicing her medical skills with gunshot wounds and other combat-related injuries, but delivering a baby in an Air Force hospital was not what she thought she would be doing when she deployed from Fort Lewis, Wash.

“This has been a light in my time in Iraq,” Shanley said. “Delivering a child, where we’re at, in these conditions, has made the whole experience worthwhile.”

When the staff saw the Alrikabi family, Rafah was ready to increase the base population by one. About nine hours later, she delivered a daughter, Malach, to the delight of her family and the medical staff.

“I was so glad to have my baby here,” Rafah said. “The doctors took such good care of me. I can never thank them (enough) for their help.”