Sunday, February 7, 2010

Surprise from Afghanistan is Good News

It feels good to do a good story. I don’t mean a story that was well written or a story with incredible video. I mean a story with good news – something that’s uplifting. It grabs you and it makes you feel. This week I was lucky enough to have one of those stories.

(See Lauren's Report on Local 12 -- click here for video)


An Army helicopter pilot, home on two weeks leave from Afghanistan, decided to surprise his two young sons at school. They had no idea dad was coming home. Dad is also known as Warrant Officer Mike Vinson, and he was nice enough to invite us along for the surprise.

For 7-year-old Noah and 5-year-old Caleb it was school as usual – or so they thought. While Dad was waiting to make his big entrance, he was already emotional. Mike told me he’d been planning this surprise for a month and had pictured the moment he would see his boys over and over again.

He walked in the door – announced as a special guest. At first the boys just smiled big grins, and then they popped out of their seats and ran to give Dad a hug. It was a Kodak moment and a Kleenex moment. The teachers dabbed at their eyes with tissues, while I tried to keep myself in check. As for Mike -- he assured the students that his tears were tears of happiness. Mike Vinson’s love for his children was radiating from him that morning – it was in his eyes and his voice and in that first big hug he shared with his sons.

As a news reporter, in the midst of all this excitement – I need to do interviews. Even the boys get to go on camera. Now, interviewing children can be tricky. They love the idea of being on TV, but they can become shy and clam up when it’s time to talk. But, these interviews were priceless. Asked about seeing his father – 7-year-old Caleb said he was really happy…but he didn’t really know how to describe it. The follow up question was “How much did you miss your daddy?” His response – “More than he loves me.” And, as I’ve already established – that’s a lot! Hearing the boys articulate their feelings was touching. And trust me – they’re your typical boys. The next conversation was about using their bb guns with dad and playing basketball.

I returned to the news station a few hours later after appearing on the noon news with my report. I was immediately hit with a flurry of praise from my co-workers – they were all touched by the story. And trust me – news personnel have thick hides – it takes a lot to impress us. Well, then my phone rang and e-mails popped up in my inbox. I wasn’t the only one happy to see some good news.

Mike Vinson pilots a Blackhawk helicopter in Afghanistan. He runs a medevac unit, which means his job is to get injured soldiers off the battlefield and back to safety. He tells me it’s a gratifying job. But, I can tell you – for two weeks you don’t need to call Mike a pilot, a solider, or an officer – because he’s simply happy to have the titles of husband and father.

See Lauren's Report on Local 12 -- click here for video