From Afghanistan with love.

Thanks to reader Kelly in Nevada, here's a pretty inspiring story for you: 

Air Force Captain Ginger Bohl, deployed to Afghanistan in August when her son was about 6 months old, has been sending pumped milk back to him ever since.

The San Angelo, Texas Standard Times reports:

"It's my wife," says Michael Bohl, her husband and Silas' father. "She is an amazing woman - her spirit, her faith, everything about her just shines."

Ginger Bohl, an Air Force captain, is an active-duty doctor deployed in Afghanistan from Goodfellow Air Force Base. Since leaving in late August, Bohl has sent home biweekly shipments of her breast milk, frozen and shipped in 30- to 40-pound quantities directly to the Bohl family.

Thirty-five pounds of milk is about 4 gallons' worth. This delicate commodity makes it halfway across the planet, a distance of more than 8,000 miles, in just three short days.

The father notes that Ginger has been very lucky to have an power and a freezer at her post, and that the family is lucky to be able to afford the shipping costs.  He suggests a moratorium on deployment for breastfeeding mothers beyond the current four month limit.  He also notes that the importation hasn't always been smooth:

Shipments have been held up by customs and the USDA because of the potential for infectious diseases.

"There's one guy at JFK (airport in New York City) who is now very informed about the benefits of breast-feeding and why we needed the milk right away," Bohl said. "I was even sent to the IRS to get the milk because they thought we were running some kind of Afghani breast-milk ring."

Ginger Bohl will return home in a few days.  Her husband says:

"She's been gone for so long, nearly half of his life," Bohl said. "Every time he hears her on the TV [through a webcast], he crawls up to touch it. He knows her face and her voice. He knows his mommy. I know it won't be a problem."

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Comments

[Jane]

This story truly moved me. She is a courageous person and a loving mom. I hope the family will have a wonderful reunion upon her return!

[Jana (sidetrack'd)]

What a neat and heartwarming story. The lengths that mommas will go through for their little ones are astounding. Hope she has a safe return and a great reunion with her husband and son!

[Tara]

This woman is my hero. My son is eleven months now, and I've been back to work for four of those months. I've been pumping once or twice a day for several months now, and I want to give it up almost every single day. But if this woman, pumping in these conditions, can keep on keeping on, so can I.

[Jen Christensen]

Hi, I am a working and nursing mom. I am a television anchor in Illinois and have my own blog. I posted about breastfeeding this week. Please spread the word! Thanks! NewsAnchorMom.com

[Jill P]

This is an amazing story! I agree nursing mothers shouldn't be deployed. In fact, I've always argued the best way to raise breastfeeding rates in this country would be to let women stay home for the first year (paid leave as long as you're nursing!). Just like Tara, I hated the hassle of pumping at work and completely understand women who choose to switch to formula. Best wishes to this family and special thanks for serving our country with such personal hardship.

[Ewokmama]

Wow, that is just awesome!!

[Stephanie]

Wow, that mom deserves major kudos!

[Meleah]

What a beautiful and moving story. What a courageous mother! Stories like this one really remind me how lucky I am to be home with my babies. Hats off to all the working mothers out there especially those overseas serving our country.

[Beth]

Wow. That story brought tears to my eyes. What a strong woman and family. Thanks for sharing this story. It's definitely an inspiration to overcome the smaller everyday obstacles that I face.

[onetinkerbell]

This is a great story. Unfortunately, this woman is lucky. Because she is a doctor, she has access to the things that she needs.

Also, generally speaking, doctors can have shorter deployments than other military specialties. Not always, just sometimes, especially if they're working in a hospital rather than acting as the medical provider at an outlying base. Reading this woman's experience, I can see that she's had a 6 month long deployment. Most Army deployments are 12-15 months long, sometimes longer.

In my experience, not all branches of military service allow 4 months between giving birth and deployment. I personally know of several women in the army who were given the standard 6 weeks after giving birth and, once their doctors cleared them, they were deployed within days. The Army has a much harsher outlook on this, I think. My husband (an Army medical provider) offered to write a special request for one of his female medics in order for her to be able to stay at home and breastfeed when her unit deployed. He wasn't sure that the command would support his argument but felt it was worth a shot. She ended up just switching to formula so that her husband could get used to feeding the baby before she left.

I think it would be great to lobby people to get better support for nursing moms who are active duty military members. But my question is, "Whom do you lobby?" Each service is run independently, so unless the DOD got involved (and believe me, they could care less) change is unlikely to happen. The Air Force has a tradition of being more concerned about the moral and welfare of its soldiers/airmen. Traditionally the amount they spend on MWR (moral, welfare and recreation) for their servicemembers is 3 or 4 times what the Army spends. Throughout the military, the Air Force is known for having better housing, too.

I wish that there were more military moms that breastfed - perhaps their voices combined could make a difference. As it is, this story is just a small light in the dark. If you know people in the military, tell them about this story. Maybe we could help change things.