If you watched the State of the Union broadcast this month, you saw Sergeant First Class Townsend Williams of Fort Bragg reunited with his wife and children on live television. Sergeant Williams wasn’t due to return from Afghanistan for several months, but they brought him home early for a reunion.
This is only the most recent example of our society’s love affair with surprise reunions. A boy was recently surprised in front of his entire school when his soldier mother stepped out of a large package at a school assembly. Two military children who threw out the first pitch at the Yankees game were astonished to find that when the two catchers removed their masks, they were their parents, both active duty and returned from deployments.
Heartwarming, inspiring, popular, yes. Just google “surprise reunion” and you’ll see how many views these videos get. What’s behind their popularity? Some have a problem with surprising the children. Others say there’s nothing wrong with celebrating a service member coming home safely. Tune in as we discuss the pros and cons.
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