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# He Surprised All 5 Kids
- URL: https://goodnewsdailytv.com/2026-08-15-he-surprised-all-5-kids/
- Published: 2026-08-15T15:01:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-15T15:02:41.000Z
- Description: A National Guard dad spent ten months away in Iraq — then came home and surprised each of his five kids separately, one classroom at a time, ending with his two-year-old sprinting into his arms yelling "Daddy!"
- Author: Good News Daily
- Tags: Patriotism

✓ Verified · cross-checked against 2 independent sources

Nathan Bruch's five kids thought their dad was still half a world away in Iraq — right up until he walked through the classroom door instead.

He didn't tell a single one of them he was coming. Not one of them saw it coming.

For ten months, Sergeant First Class Nathan Bruch was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led mission against ISIS, serving with the Iowa Army National Guard's Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment. Back home in Carroll County, Iowa, his wife Casey held everything together alone — five kids, ages two to eleven, growing up a little more each week their dad was gone.

That winter, Bruch was one of 145 Iowa National Guard soldiers who finally touched down in Des Moines, landing at the 132nd Fighter Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard. Casey was there waiting, and their reunion happened first — a full day before any of the kids knew he was even in the state.

Then came the part he'd been planning. Instead of pulling all five kids out for one big group reunion, Bruch and Casey decided to surprise each child individually, on their own turf. He drove to Ar-We-Va Community School in Westside and went, one classroom at a time, into the rooms where his 6-, 7-, 10-, and 11-year-olds sat expecting an ordinary school day. According to KCCI News, which caught the moments on camera, each reunion landed the same way — a beat of stunned silence, then everything at once.

His youngest got the last surprise of the day, at daycare. The second she saw him, the two-year-old recognized her father instantly and ran straight into his arms, yelling "Daddy!" — the kind of reaction that doesn't need slow motion to hit hard.

It's a small scene in one small Iowa town, but it's also the quiet cost behind every deployment number you hear about on the news. Guard families like the Bruchs don't get a single homecoming. They get a slow, private one, unpacked classroom by classroom, hug by hug, until the family that split apart for ten months is finally, fully, back in one place.

Here's the part worth sitting with. Nathan Bruch could have had one big reunion and skipped straight to the easy part — everyone in one room, one round of hugs, done. He chose five smaller ones instead, because he wanted each of his kids to have a moment that belonged only to them, not a share of one big moment split five ways.

That's not a small thing to plan for. That's a father thinking about his kids before he'd even had a full day back on American soil.

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**Sources:** [kcci.com](https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-guard-soldier-surprises-kids/70339165?ref=goodnewsdailytv.com) · [y105fm.com](https://y105fm.com/ixp/481/p/iowa-national-guard-nathan-bruch-deployment/?ref=goodnewsdailytv.com)

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