Veteran Returns Safely from Afghanistan

A local family is back together tonight after being separated by war for nearly a year. While they were apart they managed to help hundreds of people.

U.S. Navy Commander Hank Tillman traveled around the world from Afghanistan on his way back to Texas.

"I went through Kabul, Kuwait, Norfolk and now I am home, " said Cdr. Tillman as he reached for his four-year old son, Tyler. 
          
The commander's 47 years old.  By the time Tyler was born, CDR Tillman was a reservist. He and his wife, Loree, never thought he'd actually be called off to war.

"I figured I was too old to go anywhere," he said still wearing in his uniform.
"I thought well, let's just see how it goes, you have not been recalled yet.

Don't retire.  Let's stick it out and see what happens," said his wife recalling the decision they made more than a year earlier.

One month after he agreed to remain a reservist, he was sent to fight in the Middle East. Loree was so afraid her husband wouldn't come home she could barely answer her son's questions.

"He just today asked. 'Daddy, how come you didn't get shot?!',"  said Loree as she wiped away tears.  CDR Tillman was at war for nearly a year.

While he was away, Loree started Tillmantroops, a non-profit organization, to help supports soldiers over seas. TillmanTroops.org is officially organized and operating as a 501(c)(3) eligible to accept tax deductible donations.

"I was shipping socks, I was shipping granola," Loree said.  

The organization has already sent care packages to more than two hundred soldiers.