When the soldiers came home, there was a lot of hugging and snuggling and that other form of reconnecting.
The result of this massive troop engagement? A baby boom, with the first wave of infants arriving in December.
There are so many pregnancies, in fact, that Fort Carson, which normally offers one-on-one pregnancy education sessions for prospective parents, has switched to group classes.
About 160 infants are due in December - a number not seen since January 1992, after the Persian Gulf War, when 156 babies were delivered at Evans Army Community Hospital.
Another 140 are due in January 2005, said Roycelyn Bowman, the Army hospital's obstetrics educator, who teaches the classes.
The hospital averaged 98 births a month in the 12 months spanning October 2002 to September 2003, the most recent figures available.
This recent engaging means Fort Carson has "disengaged" some women to civilian doctors offpost who accept Tricare, the military insurance. Those patients will deliver babies at Memorial or Penrose Community hospitals, Bowman said.
"We knew as soon as the troops came back that we were going to have a population explosion," Bowman said. "They say, 'He got back, and yup, now I'm pregnant!'
"A lot of them are first pregnan- cies, but there's quite a few that it's their second, third baby."
She said, though, that the trend is not limited to military wives. She's seeing female soldiers, too, who she said will be exempt from redeployment to Iraq.
A similar baby boom is being reported at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
The about 14,000 soldiers from Fort Carson who were sent to Iraq last year began returning in February, with the biggest waves returning in March and April.
At a two-hour class last week in the Mother-Baby Classroom on the third floor at Evans Community Hospital, parents-to-be - most due in February and March - watched a video, filled out paperwork detailing medical histories and received a diaper bag of goodies. They were assigned to a midwife and, in private, were given due dates.
"I used to see you guys oneone-one for private appointments, and then all the troops came home, and there are so many of you and only one of me," Bowman told the group.
It was militaryesque: efficient and information-filled.
Amanda Zuniga, whose husband, Christopher, returned from Iraq in March, is expecting the couple's second child in February.
Zuniga said the couple talked about expanding their family, which includes 16-month-old Andrew, and the next thing you know . . .
"It happened that quick," she said. "It's amazing when you skip a couple of pills what can happen."
Staff Sgt. Moses Santana and his wife, Marta, learned their baby is due March 8 - weeks before Santana expects to ship out for a second deployment to the Middle East.
"This will be the first one I'll be here for," he said of his baby's impending birth.
He was in Iraq with the 3rd ACR when his son, Iysic, was born June 30, 2003. Nyah, 4, was born while he was in Germany.
"I always wanted a big family," Santana said after the class. "I love being a father."
He said he is a bit nervous about witnessing a birth - probably more so than at the thought of having to go overseas.
"I believe it's my duty," he said of the next round of deployments. "I'm very patriotic."
The Santanas, high school sweethearts from Philadelphia, found out late last month they are expecting.
"I don't believe in wasting time," Santana joked.
But didn't he get home in March?
"It took a little bit of practice."
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