My husband and I are both Active Duty Air Force. He spent a year deployed away from home, the majority of the time in Afghanistan. The team he was assigned to in Afghanistan 'disbanded' and he was given the option to come home a few months early. Once notified of this option (in Nov 09) he began to work on a plan to surprise me with his return. He made it all the way to the middle of Jan 10 when I received a check-in e-mail from Continental to check-in for my flight back to Guam. I had just returned from leave in the states and was confused because I had already flown. When I opened the email I saw his name and BWI (airport code). I got on the phone and immediately called his best friend and wife and asked "is Joe on his way home?" His best friend's wife responded by hanging up, they didn't know how to answer because they didn't know how I found out! I called back and said "Andrea I just got a check-in notice to check in for a flight from BWI to Guam, what's going on?" Meanwhile they were talking to Joe online discussing how to best surprise me! They finally broke down and told me the truth and Joe called me, totally disappointed his surprised was ruined, but totally happy to be coming home!
After returning to Guam he was notified that he would be a Bronze Star recipient and was awarded the Bronze Star before we moved from the island. He's the biggest hero in our house!