Be sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video!
It can be incredibly hard for children to spend time apart from their parents. For the children of servicemen and women, long separations are just a fact of life.
Carlin Ensman hadn’t seen her dad for months. He was in the army and had to travel far, far away.
At first, Carlin couldn’t understand why her dad had to be gone so long. Eventually, her mom, Mandy, made her understand that it was his job to be away. But still, the little girl wished that her dad could be there with her.
The days went by, and Carlin got a little more used to her father’s absence. Yet she was still longing for the day when he could come back.
Then one day, Carlin’s mom told her that they were going to the airport to pick up one of her friends.
Mandy was having fun at the airport. She loved looking at planes taking off and landing. But she didn’t know that something even better was right around the corner.
Carlin’s mom led her to a specific spot and told her to stand still. Carlin wasn’t sure why, but she did it anyway.
Then the mom told her to look down the hallway. Her dad turned around the corner. Carlin screamed out loud and ran right up to him.
Her dad picked her up and gave her a big hug.
Carlin started to cry with happiness. She had wanted to see her dad for so long, and finally, he was here.
The dad kept on kissing Carlin, and the girl started laughing. Then the dad asked if she was happy to see him. But the answer was already obvious!
Carlin realized that she would be able to spend weeks with her dad again and kept on crying with happiness.
Luckily, Mandy was filming the heartwarming reunion. The video has since gone viral.
On YouTube, it has over 1 million views It also has more than 25,000 likes and 1,300 comments. People have been saying things like this:
Of course, Carlin is far from unique. All over the world, the children of servicemen and servicewomen have to face long periods of separation from their moms and dads.
In fact, in the US alone, over two million children have had a parent deployed away from home since 9/11.
And as well as having to cope with a parent being dispatched away for lengthy periods of time, military children have many other pressures that civilian children won’t face.
For instance, they relocate 10 times more often than civilian families. They also experience higher instances of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
On the flip side, the children of military parents often gain a wide range of positives.
For example, 80% of military children claim that they can relate to anybody, no matter their social or ethnic background. And more than 80% of US military children learn to speak a language other than English.
Children like Carlin deserve nothing but the best!
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