Teacher welcomed back

It was a hero’s welcome.

The teachers at Sunrise Elementary School wiped tears from their eyes as the school’s 550 students waved American flags and cheered during a school assembly Wednesday morning.

Army Master Sgt. Eric Kramer, a second-grade teacher at the Spokane Valley school, was welcomed home after a year in Afghanistan, where he served as a chaplain’s aide.

Kramer returned to Spokane on Saturday, but this was his first time back at the school since he was deployed last April.

“I’m glad to be back,” said Kramer. Since he’s been home he and his wife, Deb, and daughter, Audrey, have “just been hanging out as a family.” Kramer was able to phone his family almost daily while he was gone. “I was fortunate. We were able to stay in touch. It made it easier to be separated that long,” said Kramer.

He also kept in touch with each classroom and the second-grade teaching team. He sent the school monthly updates. On two occasions the students sent him toys they collected for Afghan children displaced by the war.

“Part of my job there was to provide humanitarian service,” said Kramer. “We brought them food and the toys that the school sent. It made it much easier.”

He’s not sure when he’ll return to the classroom.

“I’m very happy he’s back. We missed him,” said fourth-grader Jake Rountree, one of Kramer’s former students.

Kramer, a reservist, doesn’t think he’ll be redeployed. He could retire now with 24 years of service.

“My wife will have a say as to when I retire. That’s one of those questions we’ll work through as soon as my spirit catches up to me,” said Kramer.