Wow, I never thought that when they sent us over here to Iraq that I'd actually meet the President.
It was so cool. There we were eating lunch in the chow tent when the C.O. and two MPs came in and the C.O. pointed at me and three other guys and told us to follow them, but not to bring our weapons. He said someone would take them to the arms room and we could pick them up later.
There were three deuce-and-a-halfs all full of troops outside and we got in the last one and as soon as we were in they took off. There was a sergeant in charge inside and when one of the other guys asked him what was up, he said he didn't know, but that it was all pretty hush-hush.
They let us out in front of this big hall and lined us up in formation and marched us in, but first we had to go through these portable metal scanners they had set up and we had to get everything metal off, even our dog tags. Now that I think about it, it was like they didn't trust us to have any weapons or anything metal on us.
Then I saw why when the President himself came in and gave us all his thumbs up sign. A lot of the guys were cheering but some were bitching that they'd been shanghaied into the whole deal and that they'd rather be at the PX or the EM club getting hammered.
Then he started giving out those red hats and signing them for the guys who were lining up and taking selfies in them after he signed them. There were a couple generals up there and I could see they didn't like the troops acting like groupies, but I guess they couldn't do anything about it even though we found out later that troops aren't supposed to be involved in politics and those red hats were pretty political, especially the ones that said Trump in '20.
The President had on this silky looking jacket like pilots wear only it was so new you could still see the creases and he had a name tag and everything. I hate to say it, but it looked a little weird with that red tie he always wears. He really didn't look military, but more like some kind of tourist from an office party or something who couldn't find his regular coat.
Then he gave this speech about how good we were doing and that he was bringing troops back from Syria and Afghanistan because we had whipped ISIS, but he didn't say if or when he was bringing us home.
Then he started saying that America was a sucker for doing so much fighting around the world when the governments there wouldn't give us enough money. He kept saying we were suckers and the guy next to me said real low, “I guess that makes us suckers for fighting over here. How about the dead guys? They suckers too?”
When he finished they made us line up to shake his hand and when I did he said, “Where are you from, son?” When I told him Nebraska, he said, “Oh, yeah, that's the Sunflower State, right?” I didn't want to contradict him so I just nodded and then he said, “You're gonna vote for me, right, son?”
The sergeant behind me said, “Yes, sir. All of us, sir.”
I heard some guys laughing.
He left then and we got our dog tags and all back and got back in the trucks and went back and got our weapons.
So that's how I met the President. Happy Holidays to you all.
Your son,
Blake
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