Colorado Springs Toddler Karas Ogelsby Can’t Wait To Hug Soldier Dad After Nine-Month Deployment in Mid-East [Video]
A heartwarming video has emerged online showing the moment that a toddler broke onerous military protocol to welcome home her dad with a hug in the middle of a service for returning soldiers at Fort Carson in Colorado, on Tuesday, October 6.
Little Karas Ogelsby broke away from the crowd of military families at the ceremony to welcome her soldier father, Lt. Daniel Oglesby, from a nine-month deployment in the gulf state of Kuwait in the Middle East.
According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Karas’ father, Lt. Daniel Ogelsby, returned home Tuesday with about 55 men of the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th I.D. from a training mission in Kuwait.
The men werepart of a total of about 300 U.S. troops deployed to the region who returned home in the last few days.
The video, by KKTV 11 News, shows Karas breaking away from other military families waiting to welcome returning soldiers and running to hug her father in the middle of the welcome home service.
Karas and her mother had been waiting for Lt. Ogelsby to be dismissed from duty at Fort Carson when Karas decided she’d had enough of the longwinded formalities of the official welcome ceremony.
Although, protocol requires that before the soldiers can greet their families they must wait to be dismissed by the senior officer who welcomes them home, the adorable little girl from Colorado Springs simply couldn’t wait for the official welcome home ceremony to be over to welcome her dad with a hug, and as the video shows, no one dared stop her.
When his daughter ran up to her, Ogelsby bent down to give her a hug before she ran back to her mother.
A reader commented on the Daily Mail that Karas appears to be saying, “Stuff protocol. That’s my dad!”
The heartwarming video showing the adorable girl ignoring protocol to welcome her dad home has gone viral. Kara has won the hearts of thousands online.
“It really is the most magical feeling in the world! When I saw my husband walk through the arrivals gate at Brize Norton, the biggest wave of relief, love and happiness just washed over me! God bless them. ”
“Absolutely beautiful! No military can keep a little girl from her dad!”
“So Sweet!”
“Precious moment between a returning daddy and daughter!”
“Too adorable. Couldn’t wait to get to her dad.”
“Well that’s the cutest thing I’ve seen. What a cute little girl who loves her Daddy.”
Thousands of viewers agree that the video is one of the cutest and most heartwarming soldier-returning-home viral videos in recent times.
Lt. Ogelsby was later photographed leaving Fort Carson with his two young daughters, Layla Oglesby and Karas Oglesby.
“She was excited. She spotted me from a couple rows back and she couldn’t contain herself,” Lt. Oglesby told KKTV. “I wasn’t gonna tell her no.”
“Being gone for eight months–it’s tough. But once you see the look on their faces when you get back makes it worth it.”
The Colorado Gazette reports that a total of about 4,500 U.S. troops were deployed last winter due to concerns about the growing power of ISIS in the Middle East region. The troops helped to train U.S. Middle East allies to counter the threat of the jihadi terrorists in the region.
According to an official press release, the troops were also involved in military operations across the region.
“Their deployment provided combatant commanders a versatile, responsive, and consistently available Army force to meet requirements across a range of military operations in the region. These military operations included ongoing operational and contingency operations, operational support and theater security cooperation activities, as well as bilateral and multilateral military exercises that extended over 13 countries throughout the region.”
[Images: Facebook/KKTV 11 News]
