An elementary school pupil stopped in his tracks when he came around the corner of his school's hallway and discovered his military father, who he had not seen for nine months. Eight-year-old Gavin froze in shock as he saw the familiar face looking back at him, before running over to his father for a long-awaited hug that resulted in happy tears. Gavin's dad, David Masterson, 34, is a specialist in the United States Army Reserves, and for the previous nine months, he had been in Kuwait with the 811th Hospital Center out of Independence, Missouri. Davis said he originally wanted to be low-key about the occasion, collecting Gavin from school at the regular release time. But school faculty at West Plains Elementary, Missouri, reached out to Gavin's mom, Tymber Thomason, and said they would like to plan a surprise for their pupil, which David went along with it.