MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, FLA--When Staff Sgt. Kyle Snodgrass, 927th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron technician, touched down at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., he couldn’t wait to formally introduce himself to his newborn baby.
Snodgrass was present in the delivery room when his son Griffin was born by way of a spotty internet connection and electrical power malfunctions at his deployed location.
For weeks after, he was able to see his child through photos and online technology but finally was able to officially introduce himself as “dad”.
“This is such an overwhelming experience,” said Snodgrass. “Having been away from my wife and son for some time, I couldn’t be happier to meet my son and be reunited with my wife I really missed both of them.”
At Snodgrass’ arrival, his wife Jahee and son Griffin looked on as the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft from Scott Air Force Base, IL pulled onto the MacDill flightline.
As the plane engines turned off, the first person off of the plane was Snodgrass as he walked a straight line to Jahee as she held Griffin.
“I looked at those two at that moment and it was everything I could’ve ever imagined,” Snodgrass said. “I thought that they were the most beautiful people I’d ever seen.”
While Snodgrass will be adjusting to life as a new dad, Jahee says she’s glad he’s home and will help him adjust to being a new parent.
“I’m so happy to have him back, I missed him a lot,” said Jahee. “I’m going to let him get adjusted to being a new dad, but also being back on U.S. soil. He’s coming back to something new that he didn’t have when he left so that adjustment period will be good for him.”
Returning from deployments can be challenging, but Snodgrass believes he has a supportive team that will help him adjust in any way that he needs.
“The amount of support we’ve received from all of our base resources has been outstanding,” said Snodgrass. “We couldn’t be more thankful to the people around the wing that have helped us, even when I was deployed, the people there were outstanding.”
Date Taken: | 11.06.2018 |
Date Posted: | 11.07.2018 16:57 |
Story ID: | 299127 |
Location: | MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
Web Views: | 227 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Deployed Airman Returns Home to Meet First Child, by SSgt Xavier Lockley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.