Here's a first person story, posted on freerepublic. Brad, a tank platoon sgt., wrote about his privileged encounter to his family, and it has been forwarded and posted on freerepublic. He got one minute with Bush.
Hey to all that receive this email,
Well, I know by now that you heard that the PRESIDENT came to Baghdad for Thanksgiving dinner. Well, I was given the great honor of being chosen as one of the soldiers to eat with him from here, I still can't believe what happened. My Sergeant Major and LTC (COLONEL) selected me to be the senior man from the 10 soldiers from the Battalion chosen. Well, I said okay that's cool, When I went to Brigade Headquarters that morning to report in with my guys, the Brigade Sergeant Major and Brigade Commander said they recommended me to be sitting at the head table. Well, I asked WHY? What I was told was that I was known as the Best Tank Platoon Sergeant in the Brigade well, what an honor there. What we were told is that Paul Breimer the Iraq Ambassador and LTG Sanchez the Corp commander were going to be there. So I thought that's cool. Well, they told me that the main reason I was selected and this was by Division command is that I was the lead Tank Platoon, Platoon Sergeant for my 800 man Task Force and had fought the war with the 101st Airborne and 3rd ID. That I lead the entire attack from Kuwait to Baghdad and been awarded a Bronze Star with Valour for actions in combat. They wanted me to talk to Mr. Breimer and the General on that and recommendations for further operations.
Well, here is what I still can't believe, this is an honor that I will never forget and think that nothing from here in my career can match up. When I got to the airport a Full Bird Colonel came to me and said come with me young man, I said okay and he took me to my seat. Well, I looked at who I was sitting with. In front of me was Paul Breimer, to the left of him was LTG Sanchez, to the left of me was the Sergeant Major of the Army and an empty seat to my right. I wondered what was up but I didn't think much about it because I had no idea the President was coming. Well, the Colonel told me that I was selected to talk to them out of everyone over here. What an Honor. Well, a Colonel sat in the seat to my right and a General said you can't sit there he said he couldn't sit there. Well, then I knew something was up, then General Sanchez and Mr Breimer said the were going to read the Presidential speech but they were out ranked so some one else was going to have to read it. Well, then the President came out and the room just erupted and then I realized who was going to eat dinner with me at the table and I was going to talk to the President about being over here, The Two Star General came over to me and said he's the one we want you to talk to.
What an honor I can't believe that I was selected to talk to the President, There were 8 other soldiers at the table but the Pres was to my right. I thought Oh my God what do I say I wasn't prepared for this. I didn't even bring a camera. Well, the Secret service escorted us to get his food and ours then we sat down at the table. I talked to Breimer, the General and the Sergeant Major of the Army about how we could do it better. Then the President came to the table and asked our permission to talk to the rest of the guys and that he would talk to us individually later. Well, of course we said yes that it would be cool for him to do that and plus he's the Pres he can do what he wants.
Well about 10 minutes later the Secret Service came up to the table and said bring our plates gentleman and he grabbed his. We didn't know where we were going but we followed. Then we were told to put our plates on the table and not to touch them again, couldn't figure out this but security issues I'm sure, then he came to us and talked to us one on one individually. I got to talk to him for about a minute and he talked to me about how proud he was of us during the war and how we still continue the fight, and about where I was from. I told him that had I known that I was the one talking to him I would have wanted my soldiers there and how much of a moral booster this was to the soldiers. He then said we support you, America supports you and we took some pictures. Then he told his Press reporter to make sure that I got the pictures since I didn't have a camera. Then I met Condelezza Rice, His Chief of Staff and some more government officials. It was so cool this has got to be the highlight of my career to be selected for such a great honor as this. I guess I have done my job pretty good, but I'm still not sure that I deserve such an honor. I couldn't have done any of this without the love and support of my wife, my Mom and Dad and sister, my wife's family and all the relatives and friends that have supported me in my career. WOW what a way to spend your Thanksgiving dinner and here I thought it was going to be boring. I apologize that I had to send this to everyone at once but time is not something I have over here and I thought this was to cool not to let everyone know at once. Well, got to go, mission time again and take care and God Bless the USA.
Well, I still think that it is cool he chose to spend his dinner with us.
Love Brad
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1031106/posts
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