Article from Orlando Sentinel
Sarah Langbein
Sentinel Staff Writer
June 1, 2007
Pfc. Courtney Paul made a promise to her mother: to send a one-sentence e-mail each day from Iraq.
And for the most part, she did. But in recent days, when communication wasn’t constant and Memorial Day got the best of her, Maribeth Moreland Reeder started to worry.
To her great surprise, a greeting awaited her at work Thursday. And this time, it was delivered in person.
As Moreland Reeder emerged from the ladies restroom, she was met by hundreds of co-workers, her family and Paul, dressed in her fatigues, straight from Orlando International Airport.
It took Moreland Reeder a couple of seconds to notice Paul, who stepped forward and engulfed her mother in a hug.
Everyone but Mom knew Paul, an Olympia High School graduate, was coming home.
“You’ve been Punk’d,” eldest daughter Callie Paul said to her mother as the crowd applauded and wiped away tears.
“This is Private Paul,” Moreland Reeder said, introducing her baby-faced daughter to the employees of Dynetech.
Co-workers had come to know Paul through her mother’s photo-adorned office and through the emotional ups and downs of her daughter’s deployment. At Christmas, Dynetech adopted Paul and her Army battalion. The office shipped 15 oversize boxes — stuffed with homemade cookies, music, DVDs, crossword puzzles and candy — to Iraq. Christmas decorations and 60 handwritten cards accompanied the gifts.
About that time, Paul, 20, connected with Janet Pino, Dynetech’s executive vice president, and started plotting her surprise. Initially, Paul planned to return to Orlando in July, around her mother’s birthday. But after receiving word that her stay in Iraq had been extended, Paul moved up the trip home.
“I knew I was going to surprise my mother one way or another,” Paul said.
She brought in her sister to help with the logistics. Pino took care of the arrangements at work. They waited until Wednesday night to include Moreland Reeder’s husband because they feared he might let the secret slip.
The hardest part, though, was keeping it from Mom on Memorial Day, when emotions were high during a family cookout. Moreland Reeder displayed a candle and Paul’s picture as a way to honor her and have her close by.
“I told her [Mom] that she [Paul] would be here before she knew it,” Callie Paul said.
Little did Moreland Reeder know it would be a matter of days.
“I’m so glad you came home sooner,” Paul’s mother said, giddy with shock. “I was in disbelief . . . the best feeling I’ve ever had.”
At the office reunion, Paul honored Dynetech for its support of her and the troops, presenting employees with plaques from the 92nd Military Police Battalion. One is now displayed in the lobby.
In Moreland Reeder’s office, there are plenty of reminders of her daughter’s service: Paul in uniform. Paul as a gunner.
“See, Peanut, I sit at my desk all day and look at you,” she said to her daughter.
It’s here that Moreland Reeder also waits for her daily dispatches from Iraq.
“As long as I get that,” she said, “I can keep plodding along.”
Sarah Langbein can be reached at slangbein@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5020.
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Today’s post is a heartfelt story of a soldier who is near and dear to Dynetech and our hearts. The Orlando Sentinel was present to capture the memory of a mother-daughter surprise reunion. Below is an email that was sent company-wide and I wanted to share this posting because there’s nothing better than a feel-good story.
A Home Run Surprise
My apologies to Courtney, Maribeth and everyone in the company for being unable to open my mouth this afternoon. As a parent seeing life through Maribeth’s eyes, words were a wee bit difficult to get out (as rare as that might seem)! So let this email convey what I had wanted to say.
Unlike most major wars of this magnitude, the soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and other hot beds of violent behavior are not there because of a military draft. They’re there because they signed up for it. They volunteered for it. And they knew what was in store for them.
As we go through our day to day lives–dealing with traffic congestion on I-4, a slow elevator in our building, flight delays on the road, a rude customer, a Dynetech process gone awry, and other trivialities of the moment–let’s never forget the incredible courage, backbone and sacrifice of our young soldier volunteers who average ages 18 to 23 and are prepared to risk everything they’ve got to sweep a street clean, or escort civilians or protect a base camp from attack. And let’s not forget their moms and dads and the sleepless nights they pass wondering if their sweethearts made it to the morning or if the letter they cherish receiving tomorrow will be followed by an official communication they dread from the government the next day.
With deepest humility (and quite honestly feeling like an imposter), I extend on our behalf my sincere appreciation to Courtney and her fellow soldiers for everything they do to make what we do even possible. There, I said it! L