Army dad surprises son at school after 8-month deployment

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield dad, who was deployed for months, surprised his son at school today.

The Army sergeant wasn’t supposed to be home for another week and a half.

1st Sgt. Braxton Pernice was deployed for eight months before finally returning home last night and he said he could barely keep it a secret.

Pernice was the surprise guest reader today for his son Maverick’s class.

“I wanted to wake him up first thing this morning,” Pernice said. “I wanted to wake him up when I came in. I got in around midnight last night. I wanted to go and wake him up and she’s like, ‘Do not do it.'”

Pernice’s wife, Emily, helped plan for him to show up and surprise their son.

“We do a countdown before school and so (Maverick) was like, ‘Mom, how many more days this morning?’ And I was like, ‘eleven.'” Emily Pernice said. “So he goes in there and changes the blocks.”

“I parked the truck in the backyard,” Pernice said. “He catches the bus around 6:50, and then I hid kind of on the bed just in case he came in to tell his sister bye, I was hidden. So it worked out great.”

Maverick’s grandma works at Truman Elementary. She helped coordinate the surprise with the principal.

“Miss Debbie came to me this morning and said, ‘It’s happening.’ And so we decided to pull it off with a guest reader today and have Mr. Pernice come,” said Principal Sara Shevchuk.

Pernice said it was a long journey back home and he’s happy to be here.

“Amazing,” Pernice said. “It’s pretty surreal being able to be with my family.”

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