When it comes to protecting one’s country, there is no greater honor than working to protect the ones you love, but it can be hard when you are so far away from home. That’s why when Debbie and Frank Nesbitt found out their son, Zachary, was coming home from active duty to settle in Deptford Township, it was a dream come true.
When they found out he was going to enlist, they were in shock.
“My husband tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined to do it. I cried for a month,” said Debbie.
They eventually came around to accepting the idea of their son joining the Army, but it did take some time to get through it.
“The fact that it was something that he really wanted to do. You always want your kid to be happy and pursuing something that they really want to do and that gave a little comfort and the fact that Amber was out in Texas with him, I felt better that he wasn’t alone,” said Debbie.
Their son’s service worried them initially but that didn’t stop them from being a proud mother and father.
Nesbitt enlisted in 2016 to further himself. He trained in Fort Hood, Texas, before being deployed to South Korea in 2017 in the midst of the public back-and-forth between the United States and North Korea.
“When I went there, it was when they were testing all their missiles and stuff. Trump was saying he would unleash fire and fury. As soon as I got there that was happening,” said Zach.
Nesbitt was not afraid of the situation, but he did acknowledge that it was hostile. He then returned to Texas once his tour was finished.
One of Nesbitt’s biggest takeaways from Texas was that it was “hot.” When he arrived in 2016 it was just him, but that changed in the summer of 2018 when his wife, Amber, came to live with him in Texas. Both of them are graduates of Deptford High School, Zach, class of 2014 and Amber, class of 2012.
This spring, they both decided to come back home and be with family. Being from Deptford made it an easy choice to come back.
For Nesbitt, being back in Deptford is refreshing, but at the same time, a bit disorientating. Being fresh out of the Army, he is currently looking for work and a steady source of income.
However, luck did favor the fortunate as he was able to purchase a house across the street from his parents’ home. Nesbitt talked about how it was more luck than planning.
“It was totally luck,” said Zach. “We had kind of talked about it made an offer for the house. Before we made that offer, it was listed and we were on it in the first couple of days of it being on the market.”
Zach and Amber were not the only ones excited to see them come home. His mother could not contain her excitement.
“We were elated. They had just bought the property across the street from us. We are really happy about that,” she said.
Although the future is unknown, Nesbitt is not worried. There are options to go college or a trade school, and he knows that his future is bright.
