United States Army Major Bryan Zeisger just returned home from deployment in West Africa. After 374 days, he kept his flight home a secret from his two teenagers, Aspen and Zander, and surprised them at school Friday afternoon.
“I was thinking, how much have they changed in a year,” Zeisger said. “Sure you get the Facetime and you get to talk a little, but in Africa the communication is not the best.”
Zeisger has served for the past 25 years. He said he’s an Apache pilot by trade and served different deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, and Haiti. However, this is his first mission as an advisor alongside the United Nations.
“In Africa I was sleeping maybe five, maybe six hours,” Zeisger said. “I just recently got to bed at 10 o’clock and I can sleep all the way to 8 a.m.”
He said he knew he wanted to make this return hom special. With the help of his wife, they contacted their children’s school, Hutchinson Junior High and orchestrated their plan.
The student body gathered to watch the school’s production of Disney’s Aladdin. As the director is introduced the show, he called Aspen and Zander on stage. The curtains are drawn and their dad walks on stage in a cloud of smoke.
“I was nervous and surprised,” Aspen said.
“I had no idea what was going on until you popped up,” Zander said. “I don’t think it’s a feeling you can describe.”
“They’ve both grown three to four inches,” Zeisger said. “My son’s voice has changed a little. So those are the things that you miss. It’s not the big stuff, it’s the day to day stuff that you start to miss.”
Zeisger said he planned on enjoying a relaxed weekend in Lubbock before he returns to his base in Kansas.
