BROOKSVILLE, Fla. When Matt Leves daughter was born nearly three months premature, the Florida Army National Guard sergeant was worried. Leve and his wife waited as their newborn baby who weighed a scant one pound, eight ounces at birth spent the first three months of her life under intense scrutiny and care in a hospital. Lauren Alexis Leve is 19 months old now and her health is still a great concern for the Tampa couple. But what is making the situation even more emotional for the family is that Sgt. Leve could be spending up to a year maybe more away from his fragile daughter; Leves unit Co. B, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment is preparing for a possible mobilization to active duty. Already nine Florida soldiers from the aviation regiment have deployed, and nearly 20 others from are preparing to mobilize from Brooksville. Being away (from Lauren) for a year will tear me apart, Leve, a crew chief on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, said candidly. Im going through a mixed amount of emotions
of course I want to serve my country, but at the same time Im a father. Leve and his wife joined nearly 30 other families and soldiers in an informational family readiness briefing at the unit in early December. Throughout the briefing Leve held is daughter on his knee, and afterwards cuddled her as he spoke of his feelings about leaving his daughter. Especially being that she was premature I went through a lot with her already, Leve said while Lauren squirmed in his arms, smiling at her father in his green Army flight suit. So to leave her is just tearing me apart. But, Leve explained enthusiastically he is ready to accept the challenges of deployment and hell get advice on being a deployed father from some of the other fathers/soldiers in his unit. I was single every other time that I deployed, so now that Im a dad I have to watch some of the other veterans that have been fathers and get advice from them, he said. Leve already plans to send is wife and daughter lots of pictures, lots of letters, and although Lauren cant read the letters now, he said when she is older she can go back and read them and understand why daddy was away for a year or more. Ill try to be the best father figure I can be a thousand miles away, he explained. In all, approximately 75 Florida National Guard helicopter pilots, mechanics, crew members, and technicians from the 171st Aviation Regiment could be affected by this latest deployment. Spc. Stephanie Marino, an Ocala, Fla., resident and military aircraft technician awaiting the possible mobilization, explained being separated from her one-year-old daughter Elizabeth was also her biggest concern about a deployment. She doesnt know that Ill be coming back, Marino, who has never been away from her daughter longer than a week, said. She doesnt understand yet that Ill be going bye-bye for more than a day. In the event Marino is mobilized, her husband Michael plans to move back home with his mother during the deployment so their daughter will have plenty of care and support. Ive made a couple tapes of me singing songs for (Elizabeth), and weve got lots of video tape of me talking to her, Marino explained how she would remain a mom from a remote location. And hopefully Ill get to call often enough that she wont forget my voice. Sgt. Wilfredo Vasquez, a resident of Naples, Fla., and a Blackhawk crew chief, said he told his six-year-old son Carlos that if he was he was being deployed he would be going to help fight the bad people. Vasquez, who has been with the unit since 1992, said he doesnt think his son would understand how long a deployment could actually be. |