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Baghdad Daddy
Date: May 19, 2008
Imagine dodging bullets and shrapnel on the front lines in Iraq knowing your wife back home in Georgia would soon give birth to your first born son. If war is hell, then surely this was a special dimension of Purgatory for Jaclyn and Robert Groover.
When Groover, a corporal in the United States Marine Corps, was ordered to Iraq in mid-March, he knew he wouldn’t be allowed to return home for his son’s birth, who was due in 8 weeks. As his wife’s due date grew ever nearer, Cpl. Groover talked to other soldiers about his desire to be with his wife during this once-in-a-lifetime experience. That’s when he heard about Freedom Calls, a not-for-profit agency that links American soldiers with their families back home for special occasions.
Freedom Calls has set up internet access sites with web cameras and video monitors at various military camps across the globe. They work with the Armed Forces to have soldiers brought to these sites and to connect them to their families back in the states. Cpl. Groover passed this information on to his wife, who contacted Freedom Calls to see if the company could help her husband witness their son’s birth.
Cpl. Groover had a small window of opportunity during which he could leave the battlefield, but it could only happen the week before his son was due to make his arrival. Mrs. Groover’s obstetrician, Dr. Mark Bradshaw, assured her it would be safe to induce labor–timed for her husband’s arrival at the Freedom Calls site in Fallujah.
With approval from her doctor and from Cpl. Groover’s superiors, Freedom Calls called Floyd’s Public Relations Department to arrange a video conference for a couple separated by thousands of miles of sand, ocean and war. The only possible date was May 3.
In a span of three days public relations worked with Kellie Pearson, the clinical manager for Women’s and Children Services, and Brian Barnette and Charles Howell in Information Technology to clear the hurdles of patient privacy, insurance requirements, technical issues and a long list of “what ifs.” Kellie secured permission from the patient and Dr. Bradshaw. Brian and Charles purchased a low-cost web camera and tested the connection to Fallujah. Public Relations checked the legalities, served as the contact for Freedom Calls and fielded calls from the media.
The nurses in Women’s and Children made sure Cpl. Groover knew he was appreciated. They made a sign for him, thanking him for his sacrifice, but it is Bryan Simeon, an Information Technology technician, who gets the credit for going the extra mile. Recurring technical issues with the video signal kept Bryan at Mrs. Groover’s side throughout the labor and birth to make sure Cpl. Groover could see his wife and child from his seat in Iraq.
In the end, Landon Groover was born on May 3 without complication, and his daddy saw it all from 6,749 miles away. Mrs. Groover, smiling for a channel 11 reporter’s TV camera, said Floyd Medical Center couldn’t have done anything more. There was only one shot at having the Marine present for his child’s birth and a corps of caregivers at Floyd went well beyond expectations to make it happen.
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