The parents of a baby girl who was born on an Air Force plane assisting with evacuations from Afghanistan have named their new daughter "Reach" to honor the crew members who assisted in her birth.
During a briefing with the Pentagon, Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of US European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, provided more information on the birth that occurred aboard the U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane on Saturday.
"We've had further conversations with the mom and the dad of the baby," Wolters said, according to CNN. "They named the little girl Reach. And they did so because the call sign of the C-17 aircraft that flew them from Qatar to Ramstein was Reach."
According to the Air Force Air Mobility Command, Reach's parents were evacuated from Afghanistan last week and flown to a staging base in the Middle East. From there, they boarded a plane, call sign Reach 828, and headed to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
During that flight to Germany, the mother went into labor and experienced complications in the air due to low blood pressure.
That's when the aircraft commander made the decision to descend in altitude to increase air pressure, which helped save the mother's life.
The Air Force reports the mother and baby girl are in good condition.
Ramstein Air Base has become a hub for Afghan evacuees. More than 6,000 people have been taken to the base, where there is shelter, water, and food.
