Who doesn't love a military homecoming video? Seeing a mom or dad surprise their kids after months far away from home serving our country is enough to bring a pinprick or two to the eyes of even the biggest cynic. So how do you possibly make a video more heart wrenching?
You double it. Two parents who are serving our nation in the United States Army finagling joint leaves so they can come home together to surprise their two kids made me lose it this week. Soldiers Travis and Isela Ulman are an inspiration to all us parents who are trying to do the best we can for our kids. Just take a look:
I can't quite figure out if I'm crying because their story is so amazing or because I can't imagine two parents both having to leave their kids. I say this with full respect for what the Ulmans and other military couples are doing. I support their choices 100 percent. I just can't imagine being them!
More from The Stir: Military Dad's 'Superhero' Homecoming Is a Tearjerker (VIDEO)
I have a hard enough time going away for business -- which is nothing like going into combat, I know -- when I know my husband is home with our daughter. I know she will have the best care. I know she will have a lot of fun. I don't worry about her!
She will be fine, but I won't. The selfish part of me feels like crap when I leave. I want to be home. With her!
So just imagine what it's like for couples who are both in the military and both deployed. Even when they have a good support system to love and care for their kids, the strain on these parents has to be immense. And yet, they do it. And they obviously make the most of their moments home. I know I'll be thinking of them the next time I have to go on a business trip, how about you?
What do you do with your kids when you and your significant other have to be away at the same time?
Image via WLUK/YouTube
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Kanye West is Gay?! 
Comments 23
it's hard enough for my husband to be away with the Navy. I see what it does to out kids, and I couldn't be away from them if he is gone too.
This is why I got out...more power to that Mom for being able to what she does. I couldn't. ONE time I went TDY & it was a nothing trip and it broke me.
Double enlisted families have all the respect I could ever muster. Single enlisted is hard enough for families with kiddos, but double? I bow to you. My hubby is gearing up for a month-long NTC training in Cali next week and in he is also gearing up for his 3rd tour in November; his first two were Iraq and this one is Afghanistan. We have 3 under 3 (2, 1 and 11 weeks; our youngest was born exactly one week before our middle's 1st birthday). His second tour, we only had our eldest, and she was 3 months old when he left (he came home for Emergency Leave when my dad died when she was 8 months old and during those 10 days, we concieved our middle, our son).
We rarely have to worry about us being gone at the same time, but when we have tol, we hae amazing friends and family that jump right in to support us.
Maybe it's because I don't have anyone in my family or close friends in the military, but I don't really like the idea of both parents deployed. They were away from their children for SEVEN months. BOTH parents. I'm sorry, but I can't understand why both parents would leave their children. Surely one of the parents could have chosen not to enlist. I doubt their life expenses REQUIRE them to enlist. These children are being raised by someone else, when their parents are still alive. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I don't see both parents being deployed as a healthy thing for anyone. It's hard enough for children to have one parent gone for months at a time.
Angeline, a lot of the time what happens is two servicemembers who are already enlisted meet, get married, and decide to start a family while still being in the military. Or, one of these parents could be reserves and the other could be active duty, but they still both get deployed. Many many different things could have come into play with them both deploying and with the military once you're in you have no choice but to listen to them! My husband is in the Navy and his first deployment is coming up in September when our baby will be 3 months old. We have no choice though so we suck it up and we'll just see him when he gets back!
I thought about the idea that maybe they met in the military, BUT their children are older not toddlers. And considering for one of them it was only their first deployment and the other it was their second, I'm GUESSING that one of them was already enlisted when the children were born, and maybe one enlisted afterwards. Either way, the eldest appears to be 11...I'm pretty sure most people aren't locked into the army for that long. So all signs point to either one or both of them enlisting after the children were born. An individual parent being deployed I have no problem with, although it is heartbreaking, I just can't understand the choice to have both parents deployed.