From the moment he saw that familiar face walk into his Blanco Vista Elementary classroom, Pre-K student Miguel Gueveca-Rojo couldn’t contain the joy that welled up inside.

That person, dressed in his Sunday best and clutching a teddy bear with military fatigues, was someone he hasn’t seen in nearly a year’s time.

Perhaps that’s why it took Guevaca-Rojo several seconds to react, trying to make sense of what was happening.

That his dad, Jorge Soto, a Sgt. 1^st Class in the U....