A doctor was overcome with emotion after walking into a consultation to discover her military husband waiting for her after he returned from early from deployment. Joshua Splinter, a Family Physician for the Texas Army National Guard, was deployed with the 1-141 Infantry Battalion and based out of Djibouti doing work around the Horn of Africa. While Joshua was away for five months his wife Alice, a pediatrician, completed her residency training and moved the couple to a new city and started a new job. To show his appreciation for everything she did to support them while he was on deployment, Joshua wanted to return home and surprise her in a memorable way. He coordinated with a friend who worked with Alice at Lakeland Medical Associates in Athens, Texas, and began the 40hr journey back from Africa on military air travel. While he was on the move he had to pretend he was still on Djibouti time, convincing Alice he needed to go to bed despite being on the same timezone as her. And after finally getting back to Texas on October 12, Joshua set up a camera to capture the heartwarming moment the couple were reunited.
