Operation Iron Stork guests browse through the numerous displays. Photo by LeAnne MacAllister Hundreds of visitors pack the Rheinlander Convention Center during Operation Iron Stork. Photo by Ignacio "Iggy" Rubalcava Jean-Marie Williams, Operation Iron Stork coordinator, draws the first winner's name while Liz Larson MC's the festivities. Photo by Ignacio "Iggy" Rubalcava 2nd Lt. Chyanne Jones, a registered nurse at Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility and 1-6 Infantry family member, tries to guess what kind of chocolate is in the diaper at the Baby Poop Game stand. Photo by LeAnne MacAllister Teresa Tucker pins a corsage on an expecting mother. Photo by Ignacio "Iggy" Rubalcava Liz Larsen does the corsage honors for Allison Payment, an expecting mother, as she arrives at Operation Iron Stork. Photo by LeAnne MacAllister
B y LeAnne MacAllister 222nd Base Support Battalion Public Affairs Office T he term baby “boom” doesn’t do Baumholder justice. In a community comprised of roughly 13,000 people, nearly 400 families are expecting a visit from the Iron Stork in the next few months. The upcoming season is more accurately described as a baby explosion. To welcome the momentous occasions, Army Community Service and the Baumholder Community Spouses Club hosted a baby shower for hundreds of expecting families at the Rheinlander Convention Center, April 25. Known as Operation Iron Stork, the shower was a combination of an information expo and a party, created to prepare the community for its new 350-400 members, partially attributed to the return of 5,000 Soldiers of the 1st Armored Division from Iraq slightly over nine months ago. “The community really turned out to support us and to support each other,” said Jean-Marie Williams, Operation Iron Stork coordinator. At check-in, each family received a baby bag. As they entered into the transformed pink and blue ballroom of the Rheinlander, members of the BCSC pinned a corsage onto each expecting mom. T he Health Clinic, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, legal assistance, finance office, Women Infants and Children Overseas, 90th Personnel Support Battalion, Provost Marshal’s office, Child and Youth Services, Army Community Service, American Red Cross, Army Air Force Exchange Service, Commissary, Morale Welfare and Recreation, and other agencies were represented. Nearly every table offered free gifts and baby shower games in conjunction with their valuable information. Participants smelled “chocolate-poop” in diapers and identified the mystery melted candy by its scent at one table, and test-tasted baby foods to guess the flavor in question at another information stand. Of course, prizes and giveaways were a part of the fun. Hundreds of donations were gathered – from cribs, car seats and strollers, to gift certificates and a washer-dryer set. Every expecting family walked away weighed down with goodies offered at every table. In addition to walking away with burping cloths and diaper bags, expecting families left with the knowledge of how to care for their babies utilizing the support of represented agencies. Passport information, educational class offerings, post registration and other questions about how to prepare newborns for the Army were given thorough answers. “I just love this,” said expecting mom Teresa Colvin, whose husband was deployed with the 1st Battalion 94th Field Artillery. “The ladies of the Baumholder community really needed something like this.” “We’ve been in the Army 10 years now, and our first born was a part of a previous boom. We knew there was going to be another one here,” said Dannielle Lesan, who is expecting her second child. “The great thing about this time is that the community, the health clinic, and agencies are ready for us. This event is very comforting,” she said. T he Baumholder Health Clinic realized that they were going to need support in caring for the large number of pregnancies. “We’ve reached out to the local hospitals on the economy. We’re getting the information out at this shower – our expecting families have options and support,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Lawson, commander of the Baumholder Health Clinic. “Usually the clinic receives one or two new pregnancies per month. After the 1AD return in July, we received an average of 40 new pregnancies each month. Now we’re reaching their due dates,” said Lt. Col. Money, chief of nursing at the Baumholder Health Clinic. Doing the math, by the end of the year the community expects nearly 400 newborns. Brig. Gen. Michael Tucker, 1st Armored Division assistant division commander for maneuver, addressed the participants, marking the magnitude of this event and stressing the significance of the celebration of life within the community. Deanie Dempsey, wife of Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, 1AD Division commander, also attended the shower to show the divisional leadership’s support. Army brat certificates were the final stop as soon-to-be-new members of the Baumholder community were officially welcomed to the Baumholder military family. All in all, expecting families got to have their cake and eat it too at Operation Iron Stork – albeit one was made of diapers.
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 40 Geburten pro Monat werden bis Ende des Jahres auf dem Stützpunkt der U.S. Armee in der Westpfalz erwartet. Diese Rate soll höher sein als in Einsatzpausen sonst üblich, sie liegt erheblich über den normalerweise monatlich ein bis zwei neuen amerikanischen Erdenbürgern in Baumholder. Weil die Armeeeinheit, die im Irak eingesetzt war und im September nach 13 Monaten Heimaturlaub voraussichtlich dorthin zurückkehren wird, den Spitznamen „Old Ironsides“ (etwa: „erprobt und eisen-gepanzert, kugelfest“) trägt, ist der Storch, Symbol für Geburt, ein „Iron Stork“ („Eiserner Storch“).

Diese Nachricht steht im Kontrast zu den täglichen Meldungen von Gewalt und Tod im Irak und provoziert makabre Bemerkungen: „Kriegführen macht Lust“ fällt zum Beispiel dem Boulevardblatt „20 Cent“ dazu ein. Weblogs von Soldatenfrauen nennen dagegen als Gründe des Babybooms große Liebe, lange Abwesenheit, vergessene Anti-Baby-Pille nach Pillenpause sowie gute soziale und finanzielle Unterstützung der Armee für Soldatenfamilien und es wird kommentiert, es sei „eine Ironie des Lebens, dass sich gerade todbringende Soldaten so zahlreich vermehren“.

Zur nach der „Operation Iraqi Freedom“ jetzt notwendigen „Operation Iron Stork“ zur Aufnahme von etwa 350 Neugeborenen gehört auch, auf Informationsveranstaltungen die zukünftigen Eltern auf die neue Situation vorzubereiten und für ausreichend Entbindungsbetten zu sorgen. Das Armeekrankenhaus in Landstuhl (Landstuhl Regional Medical Center) ist nicht für diese hohe Geburtenrate ausgerüstet, dort werden deshalb bevorzugt Risikoschwangerschaften und Mütter im aktiven Militärdienst entbunden, während sich die geburtshilflichen Abteilungen deutscher Zivilkrankenhäuser in den umliegenden Städten Landstuhl, Kusel, Idar-Oberstein und Birkenfeld auf die schwangeren Ehefrauen der Soldaten vorbereiten und zusätzliches englischsprachiges Personal eingestellt haben. 

Soldatinnen und Soldaten der 1st Armored Division (Erste Panzerdivision), etwa 5.000 von ihnen sind in Baumholder stationiert, waren im Juli 2004 aus dem Irak zurückgekehrt. Seit April 2003 waren sie in Bagdad und Umgebung im Einsatz gewesen. Die für April 2004 angesetzte, planmäßige Rückkehr war überraschend und kurzfristig verschoben worden, weil der U.S. Kommandant für den Mittleren Osten zusätzliche Feuerkraft für den Kampf mit Streitkräften des schiitischen Politikers und Ayatollah-Sohns Muqtada as-Sadr in Kerbala und Nadschaf benötigt hatte.