- Welcome back, I'm here with Dr. Phil, Tim and.
(audience applauding and clapping)
We also have Sherry and her kids Jr. and Kaitlin,
their father can't be with us,
but Colonel James McCandless is currently serving
a one-year deployment in Germany.
So thank you so much for your service Colonel.
(audience applauding and clapping)
What's the hardest part when your husband has gone so long?
- It just him missing out on everything.
When his first appointment
Jr. was born during his deployment
so when he came home, Jr was five months old.
So he missed out on that.
A lot of their sports, the activities, sports,
band performances, homecomings, he hasn't,
just sees it through pictures.
- Yeah, well, Dr. Phil long deployments
are tough for families,
and what's your advice for staying connected?
- Well, you know, fortunately
we're in an electronic age now,
and so we do have the ability to have Zooms and FaceTimes
and stuff like that.
But it's really the content,
the intimacy comes from knowing what's going on, right,
knowing what's going on in their lives,
because they tell me,
veterans tell me when they're deployed,
they wanna know the little things that are going on.
What'd you do today?
What accomplishments did you have?
What challenges?
And they wanna feel needed.
You can ask them a question, can you help me with,
even if it's a homework problem or something,
they just wanna feel like they're still needed,
they're still plugged in.
- I agree though, man,
striving for that communication has got to be key.
So do you agree with how you grew up?
- A hundred percent.
My parents weren't deployed,
but they would have to go away for training some times.
And the greatest thing that I had is my sister.
I wasn't going through this alone, we had each other,
knowing that there are other people
going through the exact same thing you're going through,
makes you feel like you're not alone.
So, thank you.
- Yeah, absolutely, it's the coolest program and I love it.
So Jr, Kaitlyn, what are you most looking forward to
when your dad gets home?
Like when he comes home, like what are you,
what are y'all most look forward to just chill or?
- Yeah, pretty much.
I mean, just excited to have him back, have him around,
do things with him, just have family dinners and stuff.
- Just being able to spend time with him in general,
he's a very loud, bubbly person in our house.
So, and then missing that one part is definitely unjust men.
- Well, you guys don't have to wait
for your dad anymore though.
Colonel James McCandless, come on now.
(audience applauding and clapping)
(upbeat music)
- Oh dear.
Hi. (indistinct)
Hi buddy, you've grown.
(audience applauding and clapping)
- Oh my gosh, whooo, well, I mean, first of all,
thank you sir for your service.
- Thank you very much.
- Your family's awesome.
I wanna go hiking with your son on some kind of trip,
that sounds fun.
So how is it seeing your family?
Each time is it just crazy when you get to come back home?
- It is, I mean, it's always amazing
to be able to come back and see my family,
you know, with technology, I mean,
we still have the ability to communicate
and stay on FaceTime and so on,
but just seeing how much they change
between each deployment, it's just.
- It's such a cliche, but they grow so fast.
- Well, they do.
And you know, as they were younger,
you were like, ah, you know what, we still got time,
I'm missing some of the key events,
but now they're getting older.
Jr go to college next year.
So, you're missing out on those kind of key events.
I've missed both of them turning 16 by deployments,
I missed him turning 18 this year.
So, but it's just really amazing
to be able to be back and spend that time with them
and be able to see their events in person
and getting back to that, so.
(audience applauding and clapping)
- Well, I am just really happy to have met you
and to be able to lift y'all up and celebrate y'all,
and I can't wait to see what you do with hiking.
I mean, I'm like really down
for like a cool trip to go hiking.
I love hiking and it's just really cool,
turned out everybody kind of can relate
and we all feel so divided,
but there are a lot of commonalities
and you are not alone like Tim was saying.
And just thank you guys so much for your service, all right?
(audience clapping)