KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Time, it can be short, but as six-year-old Elena Yates at Burnett Elementary will tell you, it can also be long.

When asked about how long it had been since she had seen her dad, Elena said it had been "long, a long time, a long time."

Elena had not seen her dad in almost a year because she said "he saves the world."

Army Specialist Peyton Yates was deployed to Kuwait for 10 months and five days. The only way he has been able to see his daughter has been on FaceTime, but that all changed on Thursday.

"I told her whenever we was getting ready to leave, and then she knows that I've been back home and I'm not over in Kuwait anymore, but she doesn't know that I'm gonna be here today," Yates said.

Around lunch time Thursday, Peyton arrived at Elena's school for the sur

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