ST. PETERS, Mo. (AP) - An Indiana soldier is deploying to Qatar after volunteering to take the place of a buddy who is expecting a child.
Alexander Houghton of Evansville, Ind., was promoted to private first class Saturday during a deployment ceremony at St. Peters City Hall in Missouri. He's accompanying the Army Reserve's 332nd Medical Logistics Company to Qatar, where the unit will handle medical supplies going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Houghton volunteered to go so Spc. James Tracy of Mehlville could remain in the U.S. for his second daughter's birth in February.
Tracy tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that words can't explain what his friend's service means.
Houghton says he had to be there when his year-old daughter, Emma, was born, and Tracy should be there for his daughter.
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com