Military Dad Surprises Kids At School After Being Overseas In Afghanistan For 6 Months

Mar 22, 2019 by apost team

If you’ve ever had a loved one in the military, you know how difficult it can be to see them get deployed. Although they’re fighting for the greater good and their service is courageous and something to be proud of, it’s still hard to be apart from someone that you love. The process of deployment can be especially difficult for children, especially if they are too young to understand what it really means.

For two children, they got the biggest and most heartwarming surprise from their dad after he returned from his deployment. Although they went to school in the morning thinking that it would be just a regular day, their dad would soon prove them wrong!

Inside Edition reported that Children Levi and Lily had no idea that their dad had just gotten back home to their town in Oklahoma after a deployment. Their dad was away in Afghanistan for six whole months, which feels like a long time to children.

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Their father’s name is Master Sgt. Kent Simpson and he knew that when he arrived home he needed to surprise his children to make the moment even more special. He decided that the best place to do this would be at their school! He began by heading to the elementary school where his son was enrolled.

“[I missed] both their birthdays,” Simpson said. “Levi turned 8 in December, Lily turned 12 in December. And of course, Christmas.”, Simpson  told the Inside Edition. 

There was an assembly schedule for that day, and the staff pretended to pull Levi’s name out from a hat to get him to come onstage for his surprise. When he headed up to the stage, his dad popped out to surprise him!

Levi was ecstatic with the surprise and began screaming. Once his dad picked him up, Levi started crying happy tears and couldn’t stop hugging him. The sight is too adorable for words! But the surprises weren’t over yet. It was time for Kent to surprise his daughter. Her school announced that there would be a special guest visiting the premises during lunch.

Simpson told the Inside Edition,  “What was awesome was when he turned around and saw me, because he had no idea, he yelled 'Daddy' really loud, and so that was pretty awesome.”

But once Lily saw her dad standing there, she began running into his arms with excitement. Obviously, there is so much love between this father and his children.

They were so appreciative to have him home and you can see this in their faces when they see him for the first time in six months.

You can hear more about Kent, Lily and Levi’s story in the video above. What do you think about this surprise? Did it warm your heart? Let us know in the comments and pass this along to your friends and family to brighten their day!