Gay Sailor's Homecoming Comes With Surprise Marriage Proposal
One sailor's surprise for his true love turned into an extra happy homecoming.
As the USS New Mexico docked at the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn., after a six-month deployment across Europe, Machinist's Mate Jerrel Revels emerged from the submarine to greet his boyfriend Dylan Kirchner by dropping on his knee to propose.
Revel, originally from Texas, popped the question Aug. 12 in front of more than 200 of the returning crew's friends and family who were also at the dock waiting to greet their loved ones.
Kirchner said "Yes," not seeming to mind the crowd.
"I didn't really care everybody was around," Kirchner, of Plainfield, Conn., told The Day of New London. "It felt just like the two of us."
Revel and Kirchner originally met through mutual friends last September, according to The Day.
The happy couple's engagement comes two years after the military's ban on openly gay service members, "don't ask, don't tell," was repealed.
