Joseph’s wife proudly serves nation
Ali nears end of Air Force service, ready to join husband
Ali Joseph estimates she has helped deliver nearly 240 babies.
A first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, Joseph has served as a labor and delivery nurse for the last four years at Eglin Air Force Base Hospital in Destin, Fla.
Since becoming an active duty servicemember in 2013, Joseph, whose husband, Tommy, is the Philadelphia Phillies’ first baseman, has dedicated her days to helping bring new life into the world.
“I just had this desire to serve, and I’m a patriot at heart and thought there’s no better population I could serve,” Ali Joseph said. “I felt like it was part of my duty to the country.
“How cool is it to bring these babies into the world for servicemembers who are willing to sacrifice everything for us? To be a small part of that experience for them is a really neat thing for me. I love every single delivery I do.”
Tommy’s admiration and pride for his wife is evident the moment he starts talking about her accomplishments and desire to help others. He can’t help but smile, calling her fearless and selfless.
In addition to her military service, Ali has been a support system for Tommy through trades, seven minor league cities and his multiple concussions.
It wasn’t always easy, but the Josephs became each other’s rock as they pursued their dreams.
They started dating in eighth grade and planned to break up after graduating from Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Ariz. Tommy had been drafted in the second round by the San Francisco Giants in 2009. Ali was headed off to college.
That breakup never happened. They got married last July during the All-Star break.
“I’ve definitely admired her will to want to do what she’s done since she was 18 years old,” Tommy said. “I wasn’t ever going to stand in her way.”
Ali Joseph, 25, has known she wanted to pursue a military path since high school. Her uncle, Frank Gavin, was a helicopter pilot in the Army, and she was originally recruited by the Air Force Academy to play soccer. She visited the campus in Colorado Springs the summer before her junior year. Ali ultimately received an Air Force ROTC scholarship to Baylor University, where she earned a bachelor of science in nursing.
The scholarship required Ali to serve four years of active duty after graduating.
As a labor and delivery nurse, Ali works seven 12-hour shifts in two weeks and, as an activity military member, is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If a floor gets too busy or if a patient worsens and requires additional help, a nurse gets called in.
On shift days, Ali wakes up at 4 a.m. and arrives at Eglin Air Force Base Hospital about 5:15 a.m. The unpredictability of the work means sometimes getting home at 7:30 p.m. or later.
Her patients are servicemembers and wives or daughters of servicemembers. On shift days when no babies are delivered, she cares for mothers and their babies, working with the new moms on newborn education, teaching breast-feeding or providing Caesarean section post-op care and other postpartum services.
On top of her duties as a nurse, Ali, who went through boot camp at the beginning of her service, also has monthly military obligations.
“First you’re an officer, then you’re a nurse,” Ali said. “Our military stuff takes precedence — not patient care-wise — but we’re always on call as an officer. You don’t get time off.”
Although she hasn’t been deployed, she must remain up to date on military training. That includes shooting and being qualified with firearms, computer and safety training, and Air Force base exercises.
“I’m so proud of her and everything she’s been able to accomplish,” Tommy said. “Anytime I’ve had the opportunity to be around her peers or any families she’s had the opportunity to help, everybody always has spoken highly of her and her knowledge and how she prepares and helps others. That’s just who she is as a person.”
Their careers create an interesting dynamic. Professional baseball can be tough on personal relationships, with the travel schedule, long season and the constant unknowns of what city or level a player could be at on any given day.
Because she works long hours during the day and has to be up early, Ali is often in bed before Phillies games end. Waking up to missed calls or text messages from Tommy is normal. Even when Tommy is at home in the offseason, Ali maintains her typical schedule.
“I feel like our relationship is based off of FaceTime and phone calls,” Ali said, laughing. “We’re obviously not joint military, but it in a way is very much like the military has control over my life and baseball has control over his life, and we’ve been able to be supportive of each other’s dreams and made it work.”
When Tommy earned his first call-up to the majors last May, Ali was stationed in Mississippi. She was nearing the end of what had been a three-month assignment when Tommy called with the good news.
Ali was unable to take leave to make it to Citizens Bank Park for Tommy’s major league debut. So instead, Ali went back and forth between helping a mom through labor and trying to watch his debut on a computer.
But her assignment ended in time to be there for his next game three days later. Ali saw Tommy collect his first big-league hit and then his first home run the next day.
“For him to be able to have his dream come true and to be a small part of the support system that got him there was really an incredible thing for me,” Ali said. “He never, ever took me away from my dreams either, and I just think that’s a really great part of our relationship, that we’ve both been able to pursue the things that were important to us and support each other along the way but also have our own identity.”
The craziness is coming to an end, though.
Ali has known for the last year that she would not re-enlist at the end of her four years of service. She received orders last May to go to Japan a week before Tommy was called up but felt it would be too far from him to accept. When her active duty service ends June 29, Ali, who will be promoted to captain on June 17, will transition to civilian life.
Currently in the application process with an eye on the University of Cincinnati’s online pro- gram, she plans to study to become a nurse practitioner. Online classes will allow Ali the freedom to move to Philadelphia for the rest of the season and travel with Tommy. Last season, Ali made it to Philadelphia twice and went on just one road trip.
Tommy looks forward to Ali getting to know his teammates and their families and vice versa.
Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp and Joseph often spend their downtime together on road trips, though that will likely change when Ali joins Tommy at the end of June. When it was pointed out to Rupp that he’d be losing his road buddy, he quipped, “She’ll be the third wheel, not me.”
“We always call her ‘Lieutenant’ when we see her,” Rupp said. “It’s cool, because it’s not something you see that often in our profession. They do it right, as hard as it might be to not see each other very often. The commitment they make to one another is neat.”
These upcoming months will represent the most time the couple has spent together since high school. Ali was able to help Tommy move into his Philadelphia apartment at the start of the season, joking that she wanted to make sure it didn’t look like a bachelor pad.
“It’s definitely going to be a learning period for us,” Tommy said. “An exciting one and a good one, too, because we get to see each other and find out what that’s like. We’re looking forward to it.”
The Josephs are keeping their offseason home in Destin, amid the close-knit military community where they’ve built a foundation and friendships.
“I think the military will always be a part of who we are as people and what is important to us,” Ali said. “As it’s started to wind down, all of these emotions come up because I can’t believe these four years have gone so quickly. The sense of community within the military has been more than I expected.”