I had been out of the Army a couple of years when my brother joined. He deployed multiple times and my mom was constantly a nervous wreck. And of ALL the idiots who should've known better than to make this mistake, I nevertheless made it. I decided to surprise my mom by showing up unannounced. I can't stress enough what a terrible idea it is to ring a mother's doorbell without her expecting you if she has a child who's deployed. My brother and I get a kick out of it now, but it really was a terrible idea.