Pre-deployment surprise changes Air Force family's lives

Published Sept. 12, 2007
By Capt. Michael Meridith
455 Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- -- An early morning phone call on the day before his deployment here last August changed the life of Air Force Lt. Col. Marc Piccolo and his wife Rhonda forever.

The deputy commander of the 90th Mission Support Group at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., currently deployed as the 775th Air Expeditionary Group commander here, and his wife had been trying unsuccessfully for ten months to adopt a child.

"We really thought our case wasn't going to be worked very hard because they [the adoption officials] don't like to place a child in a situation that's changing, especially with my upcoming deployment," he said.

All that changed a few minutes after midnight on Aug. 12, with an enigmatic phone call from their adoption case worker. She told the prospective parents that she had a "lead", but was unwilling to commit any further. According to Colonel Piccolo, the couple was ecstatic and unable to go back to sleep.

"I think we called her back three times that night," he said.

About ten hours later, they finally got the call they had been waiting for, Colonel Piccolo said. The case worker told them a young woman had just given birth and was
considering giving the child up for adoption. With his deployment scheduled for 9 a.m. the next morning and the hospital six hours away, the couple took a chance and began driving.

"We thought to ourselves that if it was a go, we'd be on the way. If it wasn't, then we'd see the Wyoming countryside," Colonel Piccolo said. "We were on the road an hour when we got the call that the mom had signed the paperwork."

After a three-hour crash course in new baby care and repeated phone calls to solicit advice from friends with children, the parents were ready to take home their new son, Joseph. According to Colonel Piccolo, it was one of the most memorable experiences of his life, but one made bittersweet by thoughts of his upcoming deployment.

"There was a lot of mixed emotion, but as a commander you have to make tough calls, so there was never any doubt what I had to do," he said, noting that being a new parent has brought even deeper meaning to his deployed experiences.

"More than anything, when I think about what we're doing here, I feel we're
helping make a better future for the children of Afghanistan. The six months away from my family is a small sacrifice I make willingly to help create that future," he said.