A Wasilla soldier gets to hold his son for the first time

June 19, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Frontiersman Valley Life editor

As Tim Davey walked down the jetway at Ted Stevens International Airport on June 9, he was filled with emotions few will ever know. After six months in Iraq rooting out insurgents and being in harm's way each and every day, Davey was coming home. He took those long steps toward his wife, toward his mom, and most importantly, toward a face he had never seen before - his son's.

"I can't really describe that feeling," Tim Davey said of meeting his son for the first time earlier this month. "I was anxious, excited, happy. I was seeing what he looked like for the first time. I was getting to hold him for the first time. I didn't know how to react."

Kail Davey was born April 4, at 10:02 a.m., while his dad fought a war half a world away. Like a good military child, he was punctual - Kail was born on his due date. Kail's dad, Tim, is a private first class with the U.S. Army, Bravo Company 369, 3rd Infantry Division. Kail's dad walks the dangerous streets of Iraq every day, trying to make it a safer place for people he doesn't even know. Because of his job as a soldier in the U.S. Army, Tim Davey was thousands of miles away during the biggest moment in his life. The soldier became a father.

Davey, a 2003 graduate of Wasilla High School, wasn't able to come home for the birth of Kail, which made that first meeting even more special. He found out that he was a father during the middle of the night on April 4.

"My first sergeant woke me up and said, 'Congratulations, you are a father,'" Davey said. "Some of the guys found some cigars and we stood outside and smoked. I guess the wives' network knew, and then it went down the chain of command until I found out."

A few hours after he found out about Kail's birth, Davey finally got to talk to his wife, Rachel, on the phone, and share in the magic of becoming parents. Even though he was halfway around the globe, it didn't dampen his excitement to hear the news.

"I was really happy. I heard him crying in the background," Davey said. "I was standing outside. It was really a good feeling."

As he sat on the couch in his mother's Wasilla home, he held Kail high above him, making silly faces and doing the things a new father does. Kail seemed just as happy as his dad, returning those silly faces with huge smiles, his eyes open wide, his bubbly personality spilling out of them. He is just learning who his father is, which makes June 25 seem so cruel. On that day, Kail's dad is returning to Iraq, not knowing when the next time he'll get to see his son may be. Kail may be taking his first steps in his father's absence. He might even manage a few first words. Tim Davey will be dodging bullets on the streets of Iraq.

"It's going to be real tough to leave. Real tough. But I have a job to do," he said.

Davey's unit was sent to Iraq on Jan. 9, and he could be stationed there for up to 18 months. Davey isn't counting on getting out of there any time sooner than next summer.

"I don't get my hopes up. I'm planning for 18 months, so anything sooner would be a surprise," Davey said. "I won't believe I'm coming home until my boots are on the ground in Kuwait and my bags are in my hand."

He said it isn't nearly as bad as the news makes it sound, although he certainly isn't on vacation.

"We're searching for insurgents to get the cause of the problem taken care of," Davey said. "Sometimes it's hard because you have to be a soldier, but then you have to interact with the kids and be a nice face for them. We're rebuilding and trying to keep the peace, but there is always someone out there who wants you dead. My unit's been lucky, though."

As her husband describes being on the front lines so matter-of-factly, Rachel understands just how precious life is.

"On the phone, we tend not to talk about it that much," she said. "I'll tell him what's going on here, and he tells me what's going on there, and that's about it. It's hard. The wives don't watch the news."

Davey acknowledges how hard it must be for Rachel.

"All you hear on the news is 'five people killed today in Iraq,' or, '10 people killed today,'" Davey said. "It has to be horrible for all the wives."

Davey describes Iraq as being two separate worlds, in a way. Saddam Hussein's palaces are lavished in gold trimmings and marble floors, with no extravagance spared. On the streets, however, poverty has taken its toll, and the smell of "hot, warm trash" permeates the sweltering air.

"The country has been warring with itself for hundreds of thousands of years, since Biblical times," Davey said. "Saddam slowed the country's development down so much. He spent all the country's money on himself. His palaces put mansions over here to shame. But then you step outside and it's like a landfill."

Today, on Father's Day, Davey said he's planning to take it easy. His family will go to church, maybe go out for dinner, but otherwise, he's just enjoying the limited time he has with his family, before he heads back to the Middle East.

"I've been seeing some friends, hanging out, nothing extravagant. Rachel and I will probably go up to Hatcher Pass, up to the waterfall on Archangel trail. That's one of our favorite spots. I'm just happy to be home for a little while, and to see my son."