It is 11:15 p.m., and 6-year-old Jaelyn Montfort is still up.
On this night, she is not in bed like the rest of her first-grade class. Instead, she has somewhere important to be.
But before she goes, she has to show off a picture. So she holds up the frame, being sure to keep it close to her heart.
Her mother, Maria Mondragon, said Jaelyn holds the subject in the photo just as close.
“This is my daddy,” Jaelyn said. “And this is me.”
“That picture was taken when Jaelyn was only 3 weeks old,” her mother explained. “We had her in 2002.”
Since Jaelyn was born, her father, Staff Sgt. Timothy Isaiah Montfort, a soldier assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, has been deployed four times.
“The first time it was to Kosovo, and the last three times have been to Iraq,” Maria said. “Prior to (her birth), he had been deployed three times, two times to Macedonia, once to Bosnia, and then to Kosovo.
The total? Seven deployments.
“He’s been in the Army for 15 years, and for most of his military career, he has been gone,” Mondragon said. “At one point, he was going to get out of the military. But when Jaelyn was born, he decided to stay in. Everything he does, he does for her.”
And like a father does, a good daughter must do.
It is now 11:45 p.m., and an energetic Jaelyn, sporting braided ponytails adorned with red, white and blue ribbons, puts on her coat and walks out the door.
“My daddy is coming home,” she said with a smile, showing off missing teeth that have been lost to the tooth fairy.
“Words cannot explain how much this little girl misses her daddy,” her mother said. “She prays for him every night before she goes to sleep.”
Waiting for a hero
Timothy, or Isaiah as Jaelyn’s mother, his ex-wife, affectionately calls him, left for Iraq last October. He has been gone for 15 months.
While he was deployed, Maria said Jaelyn’s prayers were needed.
“One month after he arrived in Iraq, he was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device),” she said. “He lost 100 percent of the hearing in his left ear and 40 percent in his right ear. Then, his mother passed away from lupus and after that, his grandmother passed. This all happened while he was deployed.”
Despite what he has been through, Maria said Timothy has never let it get in the way of him being a great father.
“He is so supportive,” she said. “The bond that they have, I have never seen before, and that includes with my own father. She is the epitome of a ‘daddy’s little girl.’”
The time moves ahead. It is 12:35 a.m., Thursday morning, and Jaelyn is now standing on the grass at Fort Stewart’s Cottrell Field.
She is wearing a camouflage dress Timothy bought her when he came home for two weeks of rest and relaxation.
With yellow writing on the pocket, it reads, “My daddy is my hero.”
The excitement in the crowd grows, and Jaelyn runs to the front to hold up the sign she made for her hero. Jeff Fornshell, the emcee for the 3rd ID’s redeployment ceremonies has just announced they are 10 minutes away. Jaelyn wants to make sure her daddy can see her.
The heart-shaped sign is outlined with purple sequins. The sign is a symbol of her love for him; the purple represents the Purple Heart he received for his combat wounds. Timothy gave the medal to her mother as a gift for Jaelyn the last time he returned.
“She has his heart,” her mother said. “And he has hers.”
Finally, the moment comes. The troops arrive, 596 pairs of boots are now standing on the field. Jaelyn looks for her father, continuing to hold up her sign. At first, she does not see him. They all look alike in uniform.
Then suddenly the moment she had been waiting for. She is swept off her feet, picked up by the man she’s longed to see.
“Dadddddddyyy,” she yells. “I knew you would come home.”
“I saw you before you moved,” he told her. “I knew where my baby was before she moved from that spot.”
By the end of the night, both the daughter and her hero had followed their hearts. They were together again, holding hands, hoping to never be separated by another deployment.
“I love you, Boo-Boo,” Timothy said.
“I love you, too, Daddy.”
On this night, she is not in bed like the rest of her first-grade class. Instead, she has somewhere important to be.
But before she goes, she has to show off a picture. So she holds up the frame, being sure to keep it close to her heart.
Her mother, Maria Mondragon, said Jaelyn holds the subject in the photo just as close.
“This is my daddy,” Jaelyn said. “And this is me.”
“That picture was taken when Jaelyn was only 3 weeks old,” her mother explained. “We had her in 2002.”
Since Jaelyn was born, her father, Staff Sgt. Timothy Isaiah Montfort, a soldier assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, has been deployed four times.
“The first time it was to Kosovo, and the last three times have been to Iraq,” Maria said. “Prior to (her birth), he had been deployed three times, two times to Macedonia, once to Bosnia, and then to Kosovo.
The total? Seven deployments.
“He’s been in the Army for 15 years, and for most of his military career, he has been gone,” Mondragon said. “At one point, he was going to get out of the military. But when Jaelyn was born, he decided to stay in. Everything he does, he does for her.”
And like a father does, a good daughter must do.
It is now 11:45 p.m., and an energetic Jaelyn, sporting braided ponytails adorned with red, white and blue ribbons, puts on her coat and walks out the door.
“My daddy is coming home,” she said with a smile, showing off missing teeth that have been lost to the tooth fairy.
“Words cannot explain how much this little girl misses her daddy,” her mother said. “She prays for him every night before she goes to sleep.”
Waiting for a hero
Timothy, or Isaiah as Jaelyn’s mother, his ex-wife, affectionately calls him, left for Iraq last October. He has been gone for 15 months.
While he was deployed, Maria said Jaelyn’s prayers were needed.
“One month after he arrived in Iraq, he was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device),” she said. “He lost 100 percent of the hearing in his left ear and 40 percent in his right ear. Then, his mother passed away from lupus and after that, his grandmother passed. This all happened while he was deployed.”
Despite what he has been through, Maria said Timothy has never let it get in the way of him being a great father.
“He is so supportive,” she said. “The bond that they have, I have never seen before, and that includes with my own father. She is the epitome of a ‘daddy’s little girl.’”
The time moves ahead. It is 12:35 a.m., Thursday morning, and Jaelyn is now standing on the grass at Fort Stewart’s Cottrell Field.
She is wearing a camouflage dress Timothy bought her when he came home for two weeks of rest and relaxation.
With yellow writing on the pocket, it reads, “My daddy is my hero.”
The excitement in the crowd grows, and Jaelyn runs to the front to hold up the sign she made for her hero. Jeff Fornshell, the emcee for the 3rd ID’s redeployment ceremonies has just announced they are 10 minutes away. Jaelyn wants to make sure her daddy can see her.
The heart-shaped sign is outlined with purple sequins. The sign is a symbol of her love for him; the purple represents the Purple Heart he received for his combat wounds. Timothy gave the medal to her mother as a gift for Jaelyn the last time he returned.
“She has his heart,” her mother said. “And he has hers.”
Finally, the moment comes. The troops arrive, 596 pairs of boots are now standing on the field. Jaelyn looks for her father, continuing to hold up her sign. At first, she does not see him. They all look alike in uniform.
Then suddenly the moment she had been waiting for. She is swept off her feet, picked up by the man she’s longed to see.
“Dadddddddyyy,” she yells. “I knew you would come home.”
“I saw you before you moved,” he told her. “I knew where my baby was before she moved from that spot.”
By the end of the night, both the daughter and her hero had followed their hearts. They were together again, holding hands, hoping to never be separated by another deployment.
“I love you, Boo-Boo,” Timothy said.
“I love you, too, Daddy.”