Firefighter surprises son at school after year-long separation

by Staff Sgt. Jamal Sutter
23d Wing Public Affairs

2/11/2013 - VALDOSTA, Ga. -- It was a typical Friday afternoon for Sallas Mahone Elementary School first graders as they cheered in anticipation of a bright red fire truck, but for one 6-year-old, it would be a surprise a year in the making.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Eric Kunzman returned home Feb. 8 and reunited with his son, Christian, following a year-long tour at Osan Air Base, Korea.

Kunzman, who was a 23d Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., before leaving for Korea, joined two of his former co-workers in what was thought to be a normal visit to the school for a fire-safety demonstration.

"This is more nerve-wrecking than a fire," he said as he and the fire truck approached the children. "A fire doesn't have feelings; my son does. I'm pretty anxious ... almost as bad as when I left."

Kunzman showed up fully equipped in firefighter attire, totally unrecognizable to anyone, especially Christian. When Staff Sgt. Jonathon Flacker, 23d CES fire department crew chief, asked the crowd of first graders for a volunteer, they all raised their hands. Flacker chose Christian and asked him to pull back the visor of the unknown firefighter who he, then, saw was his father.

While in Korea, Kunzman communicated with Christian solely through internet video chat and letters, a feat that was difficult to deal with.

"Being gone for a year, I've missed his birthday and every holiday," Kunzman said. "He's young enough to not understand fully why I'm gone, but he's old enough to realize I am gone."

The homecoming came about when Kunzman's wife, Crystal, talked with Christian's teacher about the idea. The working relationship between the school and Moody's fire department made the event easy to plan and execute.

"We have the fire department come out a good bit for demonstrations for our children, so it tied in very well with that," said Charles Glover, Sallas Mahone Elementary School principal. "It feels great, because we have so many military families here, and they are such an asset to our school.

"We appreciate the military so much," Glover added. "The things we're able to do are because of the brave men and women in the military who are fighting for us."

Kunzman said he originally only wanted to surprise Christian in his Airman Battlefield Uniform but thought the firefighter idea would mean more because of his son's interest in one day following his footsteps.

"He loves firefighting," he said. "He tells me all the time he wants to grow up to be a firefighter, and this was something I've wanted to do."

Leading up to the homecoming, Kunzman experienced a lot of anticipation about getting back to his family.

"The last couple weeks, it's been hard to sleep," he said. "Once we got out here and got everything going, it kind of dissipated."

Now that the nerves have settled, the family plans on spending quality time together before leaving in a couple of weeks for their next duty assignment at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.