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The Soldier Selected to Sit With the President in Iraq Speaks. FR Exclusive
The horses mouth | 11-30-03 | Bradley via Bigern

Posted on 11/30/2003 10:24:18 AM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig

The following is a family email forwarded to me and I share it with the Freeper community, minus some personal comments from the soldiers mom, and I just can't believe it. (begin text)

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


TOPICS: Announcements; Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bushiniraq; greatthreads; hooha; iraq; myrelative; personalaccount; thanksgivingvisit
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To: big ern
Big lump in the throat read!How wonderful.I am sure the President truly felt honored to be with this brave soldier.I am so glad to be protected and served by such men.
81 posted on 11/30/2003 11:18:25 AM PST by MEG33
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To: big ern; TEXOKIE

For Our Hero!!
For God and Country!
And our President George W. Bush!

82 posted on 11/30/2003 11:18:30 AM PST by Soaring Feather
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
"Freeper relative eyewitness for the prosecution of the President's Iraq trip critics."

Well said! THAT's a mouthful!

83 posted on 11/30/2003 11:18:35 AM PST by TEXOKIE (Hold fast what thou hast received!)
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To: big ern
Thank you for sharing this with us.

God Bless Brad and all of our brave troops.

Godspeed.

84 posted on 11/30/2003 11:19:03 AM PST by kattracks
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To: big ern
Tears. In my eyes.

Thanks for posting this

Prairie
85 posted on 11/30/2003 11:19:07 AM PST by prairiebreeze (The President flew in to visit our troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving!! That folks, is being a leader.)
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To: big ern
God bless you, Brad. You are a true hero and your fellow Americans are bursting with pride. You WILL prevail! And it was so delightful to read of your amazement to be eating Thanksgiving dinner with the President of the United States. He's a great man and he loves each and every one of you. I'm sure he was just as honored to be with you as you were to be with him. God-speed, soldier. As does the President, we support you 100%.
86 posted on 11/30/2003 11:19:22 AM PST by Wait4Truth
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To: big ern
I would be fascinated to see the corresponding post at DU: The Soldier Selected to Sit With Hillary!™ in Afghanistan Speaks. DU Exclusive...
87 posted on 11/30/2003 11:21:08 AM PST by null and void (ROTFLMAO! PIMP!)
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To: big ern
"A Tip of the ol' hat" to Brad and the rest of the soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan
88 posted on 11/30/2003 11:23:38 AM PST by mylife
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To: null and void
Our mod would have to delete it if he said what he thought!
89 posted on 11/30/2003 11:24:18 AM PST by MEG33 (deleted but not defeated over Hillary)
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To: MEG33
Yep! That's why it'd have to be at DUhhh...
90 posted on 11/30/2003 11:25:41 AM PST by null and void
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To: big ern
Any familiar faces in the news photos?


91 posted on 11/30/2003 11:26:55 AM PST by archy (Angiloj! Mia kusenveturilo estas plena da angiloj!)
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To: big ern
Awesome post!
WOW!!
92 posted on 11/30/2003 11:27:18 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: big ern; Ragtime Cowgirl
Thanks for posting this Ern.. and for ping Ragtime...

Great testimony from a man who will have great stories to tell his kids & grandkids about the war & especially the one Thanksgiving in Iraq!
93 posted on 11/30/2003 11:27:35 AM PST by DollyCali (Spell Button: to cast a spell on recipient of post)
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To: big ern
BigErn - - please pass along to Brad that there are a lot of folks....a lot of folks......that are praying for our troops and their families. Americans love and support our neighbors, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews.....who are serving their country and in harm's way.

Tell them not to pay attention to the press that puts down this war and their president. Too many of us know the importance of what is taking place over there.

Love and prayers to all our heros....every one!
94 posted on 11/30/2003 11:28:25 AM PST by duckbutt (God Bless America.......Again!)
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To: big ern
Sounds like they had a heads-up that he was coming.
95 posted on 11/30/2003 11:30:20 AM PST by X-FID ( The police aren't in the streets to create disorder; they are in the streets to preserve disorder.)
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To: DollyCali
Great job Brad, and God bless you and all the troops.

Bruce Kurtz
96 posted on 11/30/2003 11:30:55 AM PST by Bruce Kurtz
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To: archy


97 posted on 11/30/2003 11:32:06 AM PST by archy (Angiloj! Mia kusenveturilo estas plena da angiloj!)
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To: big ern
Wow thanks for posting this story!

What an honor for this fine Soldier, and also what an honor for President Bush get to meet Brad.
98 posted on 11/30/2003 11:32:56 AM PST by Syncro
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To: big ern
Awesome.
99 posted on 11/30/2003 11:33:41 AM PST by rwfromkansas ("Men stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up as if nothing had happened." Churchill)
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To: big ern; AdSimp; cherry_bomb88; Corin Stormhands; Flora McDonald; iceskater; JustPiper; Mia T; ...
Thanks for sharing this firsthand account with us, Big Ern.
100 posted on 11/30/2003 11:34:39 AM PST by jla (http://hillarytalks.blogspot.com)
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