The Best of Surprise Returns

[Snuffy]

I'm taking this from another forum and posting here because I think it could be very much apprecaited here.

I hope you enjoy! (Psst, keep the tissues handy.)

hkGzqpGx1KU

[Naismith]

Damn these faulty glasses, they keep misting up.

[Trans_23]

Thanks for posting {sniff sniff} :salute:

[Snuffy]

shameless bump ...

;)

[tigisfat]

That is the happiest dog I've ever seen! :icon_lol:

[OBIO]

That is the happiest dog I've ever seen! :icon_lol:

All those surprise reunions were touching...but the one with the dog was by far the best. When a person is deployed, they can write letters and e-mails, make phone calls, send video messages to the folks back home. But they can't communicate with their animals. Seeing that dog react with such intensity upon seeing its person, that one really brought tears to my eyes. Not only because it shows that dogs do remember people they care about..even after an extended time apart, also because it reminded me of my reunion with Spud (the dog in my avatar) after he slipped out of his collar, chased after a cat and was gone for 8 days. The morning Deb found him, she called and told me to be down in the garage because she had found Spud and was bringing him home. Well, I was outside when Deb pulled into the driveway...and even though Deb had the windows up on the car and the car was a good 150 feet from me...I could hear Spud making those exact same excited squeals as the dog in the video. When Deb opened the car door, Spud nearly knocked me off my feet when he threw himself against me. I don't think he got more than 2 feet from me for a week.

OBIO

[tigisfat]

All those surprise reunions were touching...but the one with the dog was by far the best. When a person is deployed, they can write letters and e-mails, make phone calls, send video messages to the folks back home. But they can't communicate with their animals.
So true. I thought every one of my animals would forget who I was when I went on my first deployment. My old lady's dog never liked me to begin with, and you should've it's face when I stepped out of my truck. It was so happy to see me that things were different from then on.

These modern six to 15 month (or longer) deployments are so long that you worry the world moved on without you while you were gone. It's rough, and getting these kinds of greetings was always so important to me. Every time I was home and my friends and coworkers came back, I tried to make sure I gathered up as many guys to go meet the plane as possible. It just means so much.