The Faile family from Kershaw, South Carolina initially thought they were being recognized as the “Columbia Metropolitan Airport Miliitary Family of the Game” at the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. However they got a nice little surprise along with it. Beware, this video could be a tear-jerker for some people.
They got two surprises in addition to the “award.” Getting a video message from dad/husband, Sergeant First Class Scott Faile on the jumbotron first surprised them and of course they start crying. In the video Faile thanked the University and told his family he would see them “real, real soon,” but I don’t think they realized how soon that would be.
Then the bigger and better surprise happens as they see him walking out of the tunnel onto the field. The family sprints towards him and the crowd goes crazy as the family is reunited.
Faile was on his third tour of duty and has been stationed in South Korea most recently. He said it took him 3 months to come up with the plan to surprise them. He told his family he had entered them to win tickets for the Georgia game via the SEC Conference website; in reality, he never entered them at all. He sent out over 50 emails to plan the whole thing and all it took was one generous person to help his scheme succeed.
I’m not sure how much more exciting and emotional a coming home video could get after the family got to celebrate with over 80,000 fans at the stadium. On a side note, the family even got to celebrate a Gamecocks win as the team pounded out a 35-7 win against Georgia.
