THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040709
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: 27 lines
Father and daughter met via satellite Thursday, when Navy Chief Petty Officer Dalton L. Mills III, a radioman aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise in the Persian Gulf, saw his newborn yawn in her mother's arms at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center.
The Navy's first-ever video link between a crewman at sea and a new dependent at home, the satellite hookup enabled Mills to see, hear and speak to 6-day-old Brittany Ann Cameron Mills, who seemed rather unimpressed with the advance.
His wife, Sherry, could see, hear and speak with him.
Fortuitous timing made the Millses the first family to enjoy the new link: Brittany was the 76th baby born to an Enterprise crew member since the ship left Norfolk for a six-month deployment June 28, but the first born since the Navy perfected the hook-up.
She won't be the last. The Navy says it will link shipboard new parents and landbound progeny as often as it can. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MARK MITCHELL, The Virginian-Pilot
Sherry Mills and daughter Brittany... by CNB