Army Specialist greeted by POW/MIA

A family in Pocatello received quite the gift for Christmas – their son, home from military service.

“You don’t realize what you’ve got until you don’t have it,” said Army Specialist Jaron McAteer. “I know it’s like a normal saying, but you may not like your home now, but when you leave you really do miss it.”

McAteer has been in the Army for two years, six months of which he spent in Africa.

“Surprisingly, Africa is very Arabic. You don’t expect that going there, or I didn’t expect it,” McAteer said.

He said there wasn’t any tension between the local people and the soldiers, but did say it was very different from growing up in Pocatello.

“They’re really really nice people. They speak French and English,” he said. “We were there with a combined joint task force so there were a bunch of other soldiers from all over the place too. Everyone was really nice. There’s no hate.”

And when his family found out he was going to be home two days before Christmas, they leaped into action and arranged a surprise welcome home ceremony with help from the POW MIA.

“I came in, and everyone was all standing there,” he said. “It really surprised me. It was really nice to see that people care back home, that I have support from people and they care about what they do over there.”

McAteer also said it’s important to be thankful for what you have, and remember those who go without every day, not just during the holidays.

“I think everybody should go to Africa,” said McAteer. “You shouldn’t want to help people just because it’s Christmas. You should always want to help people. It should just be human nature to help.”