NATIONAL BRIEFING / AND FINALLY . . .

Gabriel Hurles’ 6th birthday party wasn’t a surprise, but his present sure was.

The kindergartner was so engrossed in the cupcakes his mother brought to his class on Wednesday that he didn’t notice the enormous wrapped box off to the side.

“That’s one big giant present,” a 6-year-old classmate told him. “See what you got, Gabriel.”

Gabriel peeled back the wrapping paper to find the surprise of his young life -- his father, an Army mechanic home on leave from his second tour in Iraq.

“It’s my dad!” he announced to his classmates at Sutro Elementary School in Dayton, Nev. “Hi, Daddy.”

Army Spc. Casey Hurles, 23, hadn’t seen his son since he left in June. As he hid in the 4-foot-high box, he said, he felt “such a rush of emotion.”

Hurles, who joined the Army four years ago, is a mechanic in the 1st Cavalry Division stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas.

Gabriel said he looks forward to playing with his dad for the next few weeks but understands why he has to leave again.

“He has to work,” Gabriel said. “He works in the war.”