Confused. I thought his duty station was Louisiana? Is he currently deployed FROM there? Because just being stationed at a base away from his home town doesn’t mean he is deployed, and also doesn’t preclude him from having the child if he gained custody. Of course her age makes gaining custody a bit trickier, since she was young, but it sounds like that should have been a priority for him given the apparent dysfunction in MB’s life. I know several men who are single, stationed at bases stateside, and who have sole physical custody of their children. My cousin has sole custody of his 2 year old boy and is stationed at a base on the East Coast. All that is required is a plan for who will have temporary custody of the child in the event of deployment.