April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
HOLY SPIRIT PARISH
Faith traveled with Army officer around the world - and back to East Greenbush
"I'm sure the Lord was looking out for me," he said.
The more emotionally-taxing deployment for Major Babbitt was working behind a computer at a network operations center in Kuwait in 2013: Having the ability to communicate regularly with his wife and four children and not being distracted by constant work made the separation even harder.
"Any way you look at it, being away from your family for any period of time is challenging for anybody," said the parishioner of Holy Spirit Church in East Greenbush. But "in between missions [in Iraq], I would have briefings to prepare for. Being a leader is exciting, exhilarating, stressful. I was so busy that I honestly [didn't] have time to process things."
Major Babbitt has spent his whole life on the move - the first half because of his father's Army career and the second half because of his own. He and his family are in the middle of a second stay in the Albany Diocese while he earns his Ph.D. in computer science, with a concentration in network security, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
What's next
The officer and student expects to finish his doctorate next year; after graduation, he'll take a position as an assistant professor at his alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, for at least three years. He can retire from the Army a few years after that and hopes to teach in higher education long-term.
"When I retire, that's when I have to grow up," Major Babbitt said with a laugh, adding that he and his wife, Bridget, aren't quite sure where the family might settle down when that day comes.
Faith has been a constant throughout Major Babbitt's life and has always strengthened him for his unique lifestyle. He lived in at least 20 different places in the U.S. as a child, attending three high schools and at least as many elementary schools.
His family's longest stay was four years in Fort Drum, N.Y., from sixth to ninth grade. He attended a Catholic school and a parish there. The rest of the time, the family attended Mass on military bases.
"Most military posts have multiple Catholic chaplains," he explained. "There's a parish created out of who's there at that time."
Church connection
The universality of the Church helped balance out the nomadic lifestyle: "While each parish does stuff differently, they're still the same Mass parts. There's some comfort in that. Whatever church you go to, regardless of the language and everything else, you can understand what's going on. They're welcoming to anybody who comes in. The biggest piece was the community and [family] being together with like-minded people."
Having two siblings also helped.
"I always had my family," Major Babbitt said. "There were some hard pieces to it, but I always knew they were coming with me - same thing [today] with my kids."
Major Babbitt was an altar server and started singing in choirs "as soon as I was old enough and my voice stopped cracking." He's in Holy Spirit's choir now.
His father's example - he was a soldier in Vietnam and then a career infantry officer - was strong.
"I wanted to be a part of defending the country," Major Babbitt said. "It was kind of ingrained in me that I wanted to be a person that helped others - someone who was there putting my life, if needed, [on the line] for someone else."
Major Babbitt attended West Point after high school as a computer science major. He had two goals when he graduated in 1999: to become an infantry company commander so he could be on the ground with soldiers, and to teach at West Point.
He met his wife during his first training year in Georgia; subsequently, he spent three years as a platoon leader in Hawaii, another year training in Georgia and four years as a company commander and staff officer in Alaska. During the Hawaii stint, he was deployed to Bosnia for six months; deployment to Iraq came during the Alaska assignment.
Back again
Major Babbitt's family stayed at the Watervliet Arsenal from 2007-09 while he earned a master's degree at RPI - a school he chose because it was accommodating to military students and because he discovered his grandfather was an alumnus and that Mrs. Babbitt had family from Troy.
In between the first and current stays in the Diocese, Major Babbitt taught computer science and information technology for three years at West Point and went to Kuwait.
The family found Holy Spirit parish during their first stay, and "when we came back, we just went straight there," he said. "This time, I got more involved. I wanted to try to give something back. I think it's important to do service to the parish."
Major Babbitt says his military career was "to some degree" a calling, but "I don't do this because of my faith. I think my faith strengthens me and helps me to do my job better than I'd be able to do otherwise. It's one of those consistent things that's always been there."[[In-content Ad]]
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