SAN ANTONIO – About 1,000 uniformed men and women on Friday flew out of San Antonio International Airport for the holidays.
Busloads of military members from Lackland Air Force Base, in San Antonio, and Goodfellow Air Force Base, in San Angelo, began arriving at the airport around 3 a.m. for the annual mass military migration known as Exodus.
Jacob Paul, an airman, said he's ready to head home. He hasn't seen his parents, siblings and two dogs in Louisville since Veterans Day.
Paul has only served in the military for a couple of months, but the time home is precious to him.
"It's just, whenever I get the time to, I like to spend time with family," Paul said.
It's been five months since Vernell Burgess has held his wife and their 6-year-old son, who live in Boston.
"I'm going to just hug him and have a good time," said Burgess, as he waited to check his bag.
The proper military term for the break is "block leave," which began Wednesday with 3,000 personnel flying out of San Antonio.
After getting past security, the men and women were given plenty of snacks and provided with a gift-wrapping service, courtesy of the USO and Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union.
"We're out here just trying to make the troops as comfortable as possible on their way home," Chelsea Foreman, of RBFCU, said.
As he prepared to leave, Davian Canty chatted over Face Time with his mom in North Carolina. Canty was just hours away from landing.
Rachel Canty said she couldn't put it into words how excited she is to see her son.
"Oh, I'm going to run and jump on him, hugs and kisses, lots of hugs and kisses, most definitely yes," Canty said.