Operation: Love ReUnited

Giving back to those who ask for nothing more than to come home.

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Featured Homecoming from Miranda Corbell Photography

Editor’s Note: Look for an upcoming series of featured sessions from many of our OpLove participating photographers. This post was submitted by Miranda Corbell Photography

In September I had the honor of being at the homecoming of Josh, the daddy of Keegan and Killian, who I photographed with their mom, Lauren, last spring. Josh had been deployed overseas for months and months. To say that they were excited to see him is an understatement.

It was very exciting, and intense, to be there for the homecoming. All the families from Josh’s squadron were there, waiting for their husbands, dads, sons and brothers. We waited in a hangar on the base until the word came that the planes were coming in. We all came out onto the airstrip and watched the planes fly over the hangar, everyone was waving American flags and yelling, Lauren was pointing up to the planes, telling Keegan and Killian that daddy was in one of them.

The planes landed and lined up, and everyone waited (not so patiently this time!) until the propellers turned off. Then those plane doors opened, the soldiers started to come out, and then all the kids and wives ran to meet them. Josh scooped Keegan up in his arms and held on tight, with the biggest smile on his face. It was so wonderful to see this beautiful family reunited at last.

While we were taking some photos next to one of the planes, out of nowhere, three year old Keegan put his hand on his Josh’s face and just stared at him, as if in disbelief that his daddy was really there. I will never forget this moment for as long as I live.

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Posted in Homecoming Sessions

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Updates to OpLove Policies

There has lately been some confusion as to what areas of deployment qualify for OpLove sessions. To aid in clarification, the Board of Directors has established these guidelines based upon the current IRS combat zone definitions:

Combat zones are designated by an Executive Order from the President as areas in which the U.S. Armed Forces are engaging or have engaged in combat. There are currently three such combat zones (including the airspace above each):

1) Arabian Peninsula Areas – the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, the part of the Arabian Sea north of 10° North latitude and west of 68° East longitude, the Gulf of Aden, and the countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

2) Kosovo area – Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Albania, the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea north of the 39th Parallel.

3) Afghanistan

In addition, we will also allow three parts of the former Yugoslavia to be treated as if it were a combat zone and therefore covered: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia.

Please note: an official letter of deployment from the command or official deployment orders are REQUIRED, and must be presented to your photographer, in addition to the Client Agreement form they will provide.

These requirements are in place to protect our organization from abuse, and allow participating photographers to better serve our military. If you have questions, please contact your participating photographer, Regional Coordinator, or OpLove directly by using the contact form at www.oplove.org. Comments to blog posts are not monitored.

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Posted in In The News

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Something to Hold On To

From Shannon at Clicking Through Life:

They were walking on the beach enjoying a North Carolina sunrise when he told her that he had a couple of things that he wanted to talk to her about. Hand in hand, still in their pjs, he told her he would be deploying sooner than they had thought. She sat there in his arms reeling from the news, she wasn’t ready to let him go yet. They had thought that they had a lot more time together, at least until the summer rather than January. That was only 10 months away! He finally convinced her to continue walking down the beach with him. Thoughts of his deployment consumed her mind so she barely noticed the sound of the box falling to the sand. But when she turned, there he was, down on one knee asking for her hand in marriage.

So early in life these two have faced more than most couples do in a lifetime together. They’ve handled being separated for long periods of time, they’ve battled and beat her Thyroid Cancer and now they will be spending their first year of marriage apart while he is serving our country in Afghanistan. And although it may not bring them together in person, I am moved beyond words that I can give them something to hold on to while they are separated.

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Posted in Pre-Deployment Sessions

Friday, January 27, 2012

A few helpful tips from Operation Love Reunited

Deployed persons/families are allowed 2 sessions per deployment. The first session is a choice of: pre-deployment, saying goodbye, mid-deployment, or R&R. The second session is always the homecoming, which is done at the time of the arrival and not afterwards. I hope that helps clear things up!

To find a participating photographer in your area: http://www.oplove.org/oplovefinder/

Photographers, to join OpLove: http://www.oplove.org/

We love hearing your feedback, however comments on the blog are rarely seen by our volunteer photographers. Please contact the photographers in your area using the finder above for information or to schedule your session. If you need to contact Oplove, please email oplove@oplove.org. Thank you for your ongoing support! We could not continue to serve our military families without our amazing volunteer photographers, board, and clients like you!

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Posted in General

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Welcome Home, Vipers!

Submitted by Angela of Powell Woulfe Photography

In December 2010, I was contacted by Megan. Her husband, Jake, had recently left for his deployment, and she wanted to make sure that he received a warm welcome home when he returned from his tour. And of course, she didn’t want to worry about who would capture those first moments as they reunited. We kept in touch as May grew closer, and finally, on Wednesday, May 25th, the day had come!

I met Megan and a few of her fellow wives at the hangar about 30 minutes prior to the anticipated arrival of HMLA-169. The hangar was filled with hundreds of people: families, parents, children, friends, neighbors and other Marines. Balloons floated in the air. Signs and banners were hung from the walls of the hangar. There was even a bounce house provided by MCCS. You could feel the anticipation and excitement in the air. And even stronger, the feeling of pride.

Well, we waited. And we waited some more. Then we went out towards the flightline, and waited some more. Then it was getting chilly (and the wind picked up) and the sun had gone down, so we went back inside to wait. By now, many people were getting restless. Who could blame them? Then everyone moved back outside to wait on the flightline for the buses to arrive. The ladies were receiving text updates from their husbands on the buses, who were just as anxious to be home.

Finally, someone yelled, “There it is!” The first bus pulled into view. And the crowd started to cheer. Smiles spread across the faces of everyone, particularly Megan. She received a text from Jake that said he was in the first bus at the head of the line; we were standing towards the rear, so we ran. (Megan ran a little faster than I did, but I managed to keep up.)

We arrived at the head of the line, and then waited some more while the Marines unloaded from the bus. Megan knew she was just moments away from holding Jake again. And then suddenly, she ran and jumped, and the rest is happy history!

I’m so happy that I could be there to document this special moment for Megan and Jake. I hope that they will treasure the photos for years to come, and maybe even share them with their children and grandchildren. Please join me in welcoming home the Vipers!!!