Pennsylvania National Guard Soldier balances motherhood, military service during NATO exercise

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. — Before the first Soldiers stirred each morning during Exercise Vigorous Warrior 2026 in Estonia, Staff Sgt. Bailey Wright's day had already begun.

Thirty minutes before the rest of her team, the medical readiness noncommissioned officer with the Pennsylvania National Guard's 876th Brigade Engineer Battalion woke to pump breast milk while her infant son remained thousands of miles away in Pennsylvania. After carefully storing the milk, she prepared for another day supporting the exercise.

The routine didn't end when the duty day was over. Each night, after the rest of her team turned in, Wright completed one final pumping session before getting a few hours of sleep and beginning the process again the next morning.

Rather than discard the milk, Wright coordinated with the East Tallinn Women's Clinic to donate it to the neonatal intensive care unit at East Tallinn Central Hospital. For premature and medically fragile infants, donor breast milk offers antibodies and nutrients not found in infant formula, helping reduce the risk of life-threatening infections and other serious complications.

For two weeks, Wright built every day around two demanding roles: Soldier and mother.

“When I visited the neonatal unit at the hospital in Tallinn, they showed me a baby who had been born at 25 weeks," Wright said. "It weighed less than 2 pounds and was about the size of my hand. I cried."

By the end of the exercise, Wright had donated more than 20 liters (nearly 6 gallons) of breast milk for premature infants.

"It was a lot of work," Wright said. "I had to wake up earlier than everyone else to pump, freeze the milk, get dressed and still make the hit times. Then I'd stay up later than everyone else for my last pump of the night."

For Wright, balancing motherhood and Army life isn't limited to overseas deployments. It's part of everyday life.

"Even while on parental leave, Staff Sgt. Wright remained committed to ensuring our Soldiers stayed medically ready," said 1st Lt. Stella Jarmulowicz, S1 officer in charge for the 376th Brigade Engineer Battalion. "Her dedication to both her family and the battalion reflects the kind of selfless leadership and care she brings to everything she does."

Wright and her husband, a Pennsylvania State Police trooper, are raising their 2-year-old and 5-month-old sons while balancing careers defined by long hours, unpredictable schedules and public service.

"Even coming to Fort Indiantown Gap for one day requires a lot of coordination because I won't be home in time for daycare pickup," Wright said. "I either need to coordinate with a neighbor to get the kids, or it has to be a day where my husband is home."

With family living over four hours away, the couple relies heavily on neighbors and careful planning to make their schedules work.

"We have fantastic neighbors," Wright said. "They're really our lifeline."

That support became even more important when Wright deployed overseas to support Task Force Iron Med during Exercise Vigorous Warrior in Estonia. Her son was not yet 4 months old.

Motherhood, she said, has changed the way she views both service and sacrifice.

During the deployment, her toddler would point to photographs of her around the house and say, "Mama." Despite the seven-hour time difference, Wright made time to FaceTime her children whenever possible.

"I hope my kids look back one day and understand why we did this," she said. "I don't want them to think I wasn't there. I want them to know their mom worked hard to give them opportunities."

Those opportunities are part of what motivated Wright to join the Pennsylvania National Guard eight years ago.

Following the unexpected death of her father, Wright was forced to leave college because she could no longer afford tuition. She began working full time as an emergency medical technician, where she met her future husband, while volunteering for military orders whenever opportunities arose.

Her hard work eventually led to a deployment to Poland in 2021 and, shortly afterward, selection into the Active Guard Reserve program at just 22 years old.

"I'm really thankful they gave me a chance," Wright said. "Usually someone older with more experience gets selected."

Today, Wright oversees medical readiness for hundreds of Soldiers preparing for deployments around the world.

"People don't realize how often the National Guard deploys," she said. "We're sending Soldiers overseas constantly."

That mission extended to Estonia, where more than 2,000 participants from 38 nations trained together during Vigorous Warrior 2026. Working alongside Lithuanian medical personnel, Wright helped rehearse casualty care based on lessons emerging from the war in Ukraine, including treatment of severe trauma caused by modern drone warfare.

"It's completely different warfare than what we saw during counterinsurgency," Wright said. "Those lessons learned are shaping how we train today."

Despite the demands of military service and raising a young family, Wright has no plans to slow down.

She hopes to remain in the National Guard through retirement and eventually earn the rank of sergeant major. She also plans to pass the educational benefits she earned through military service on to her children.

"The National Guard is the reason I have the opportunities that I have," Wright said. "I used my VA loan to buy our house, and my children will have educational benefits because of my service. If you had told me eight years ago that this is where I'd be today, I wouldn't have believed you."

For Wright, success isn't measured solely by promotions or deployments. It's found in the quiet moments between missions: an early morning pump before formation, a FaceTime call home across seven time zones or the hope that one day her children will understand why their parents chose lives of service.

"It's hard," Wright said. "But we're making it work."