3-year-old boy breaks protocol as he interrupts military parade to hug his mother after 9 months of service in Afghanistan

Three-year-old Cooper Waldvoge obliviously broke military protocol in excitement as he ran to hug his mama, Kathryn, a member of the National Guard.

According to MailOnline; while soldiers who had finally been dismissed after nine months in Afghanistan dutifully waited in line to receive orders, the three-year-old Cooper ran up to the troops and into the arms of his mother.

Ignoring the strict military protocol, he ran up to the troops and into the arms of his mom Kathryn, a member of the National Guard.

The line of uniformed officers from Chisholm, Minnesota, tried desperately to keep straight faces as the touching display reduced many to tearful smiles and laughter.

But 25-year-old Kathryn could do nothing to contain her excitement.

‘I was longing to hold him, that’s all I thought about,’ Ms Waldvogel told USA Today.

‘It just melts my heart’.

The troops who served with the National Guard’s 114th Transportation Company had been ordered not to interact with family members as they stood in line.

This moment, however, was the first time in 18 months little Cooper would have both his parents together.

His father Adam returned from his nine-month tour in Afghanistan with the 850th Horizontal Engineers in December.

And Cooper could not wait a second longer. 

The family will now be based together in Chisholm for the foreseeable future, so they can all make up for lost time.