Army student reunites with Marine Corps father Published April 30, 2013 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Army Pvt. Victoria Piccoli, 344th Military Intelligence Battalion student, saw her father, a Marine Corps Reserves lieutenant colonel, for the first time in more than nine months. The reunion took place the evening before her graduation from her Initial Entry Training, April 24. Piccoli and her father, Marine Lt. Col. Francis Piccoli, received national attention late last year when MSNBC captured their story in an interview when Pvt. Piccoli was still in basic training. The private news company is also doing a follow-up story on their reunion. Col. Piccoli was deployed to Afghanistan when Pvt. Piccoli left for basic training last year. "The last time I saw my dad was two months before basic training," Pvt. Piccoli said in the interview with MSNBC. "I wish he could have seen me get on that plane." Pvt. Piccoli said she believes she now has a better understanding of the military and of her father, who encouraged her to join. "I wanted him to know I graduated and did well because he was my biggest supporter," she said. "I wanted him to know he did a great job raising me." Her father helped her get to where she is today and she thinks this experience will bring them even closer together, she added. Piccoli is in the Army National Guard so now that her initial training is finished, she will return to her hometown where she plans to attend college.
