All the President’s Warriors

Last December 22nd was President Bush’s last trip to Walter Reed as commander-in-chief.

BDSers have raked President Bush over the coals with great cynicism in regards to his relationship to the troops. It drives them stir-crazy knowing that the majority of those in the military support their commander-in-chief just as strongly as he, them.

He has dramatically increased funding to support and care for those serving our nation.

Here are some accounts of President Bush and the wounded warriors and their family members…

Extrapolated from an earlier post:

Beginning on Chapter 11, Pg 225 of Robert Draper’s Dead Certain:

Bush had listened, had professed to understand the consequences. Now he had to live with them. That “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended” was, by 2004, thoroughly beside the point. Far more American troops had been killed since that “Mission Accomplished” moment than before it. The mission- to rid the world of menace in Iraq- was far from accomplished, and the toll it exacted was there for him to see, every time he visited a wounded soldier or the families of the fallen.

No one can force a president to make such visits. But, as Andy Card had warned him, this was part of a commander in chief’s job description, and Bush did not run from it. The task became a part of his routine whenever his travels took him near a military hospital. Because such moments couldn’t be a perfunctory meet-and-greet, but instead had to last as much as twenty minutes for each family, the visits taxed his schedule. They also sapped Bush of his emotional reserves, such that the staff knew not to schedule a major public event for him afterward. He invariably cried during such encounters; and though, as some staffers would theorize, Bush’s ability to emote freely enabled him to carry on untormented, the spectacle of maimed young men and women, and of sobbing mothers, would scar anyone’s heart.

Sometimes Card joined his boss; sometimes a warm body from the press shop stood nearby. Joe Hagin nearly always accompanied Bush- though really, this was a lonely moment, the man who sent Americans into harm’s way now confronting the grimness of that act. It was hard for others to appreciate this. Later, in the summer of 2004, Bush was conducting a final run-through of his convention speech, in a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria, in the presence of Rice, Karen Hughes, Card, Rove, Gerson, and Ed Gillespie. He came to an emotionally charged part at the end of the speech in which he acknowledged the somberness of these visits: “I’ve held the children of the fallen who are told their dad or mom is a hero, but would rather just have their mom or dad.”

Karen and Rice both began to cry when he read the line- or tried to read it: Bush was starting to cry as well. Gillespie whispered to Gerson, “Do we really have to say this line?”

When Gerson spoke up and said, “Mr. President, it’s very important that we say this line to show that we understand what’s going on,” Bush angrily cut him off.

“We don’t have to say this line,” he snapped. “I have to say this line.”

To the wounded, he asked where they were from and what they liked to do. When it seemed the thing to do, he would crack a joke. Without fail, he thanked them for their service and told them that they made him proud. Often, they told their president that they would like to go back to combat again. Bush would try not to choke up as he indicated that they had already served enough.

To those who had lost a son or a daughter, he could offer no levity. Bush hugged them and wept with them. Occasionally, a family would refuse at the last minute to see the man who had prosecuted this lethal war. Or they would get in his face: “You killed my son! How could you?”

“Your son gave his life for his country,” was all he could say in reply. Or: “Your son was a hero.”

Far more often, they thanked him: Our son died for something he believed in. And this was both a humbling and an emboldening thing to hear- though perhaps not as much as the most common refrain of all, usually spoken with searing eye contact:

Don’t let my son die in vain.

The next paragraphs, to the end of the chapter, covers President Bush’s meeting with Staff Sgt. Michael McNaughton from the 769th Engineer Battalion of the Louisiana National Guard, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It’s a detailed account.

MataHarley:

The media were never much on reporting the President’s personal attentions to the wounded warriors. But as The Philadelphia Bulletin reported this past December, his reaching out to families and casualties was extensive

The entire piece:

For years, the largely left of center and anti-war media have criticized President George W. Bush for not visiting wounded troops or attending funerals of those killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. But the facts contradict these assertions. A recent report details how frequently he has personally provided comfort to those wounded and the families of those killed in action.

Web sites such as Alternet and Commondreams.org have run stories asserting the president has not visited troops who were wounded or attended the funerals of those killed in action.

These articles said things like, “President Bush visited returning soldiers, but bypassed the wounded next door” or “Why does the U.S. commander in chief refuse to visit his wounded soldiers in their hospital beds?”

The criticism about President Bush not attending military funerals is a rather partisan and bogus attack as traditionally, few presidents have ever attended military funerals. (The criticism was Dowd-induced in 2003; a good defense by Andrew Sullivan, of all bloggers, can be read here. Maureen Dowd’s latest BDS seizure).

A Washington Post columnist wrote that the president did not only not attend the funeral of a soldier killed in action, but he did not send “his condolences either.”

This claim was circulated despite reports as early as April 11, 2003 that Mr. Bush visited wounded troops at Bethesda Medical Center and Walter Reed Hospital. After his April 11, 2003 visit, Mr. Bush held a press conference. He was asked if anything about the visit stood out.

He said, “Well, I think the thing that stood out the most to me was seeing two wounded soldiers swear-in as citizens of the United States: one man from Mexico, one man from the Philippines.”

Now it is being reported that he his reaching out to casualties and families of casualties were extensive.

Yesterday, the Washington Times reported that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have visited wounded troops and have personally contacted the families of those who were killed in action. The magnitude of this effort was not revealed publicly.

The paper said the president “sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars.”

The Times also reported that Mr. Bush, “met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, he said.

Mr. Bush’s preference to not make these visits media events was confirmed by Maj. Gen Wesley E. Craig Jr. (Ret.), who serves as the interim president of the Liberty USO.

However in 2005, he was the commanding general of the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He personally witnessed such a visit by the president that year, while he was at Walter Reed Hospital visiting some of his troops who were wounded in Iraq.

He described a big commotion that happened as he was getting ready to meet some of the wounded from the 28th Division. A limousine drove up to the entrance of the hospital and out of the limousine came President Bush.

Mr. Craig asked one of the Medical Service Corps officers, a Lt. Col., how often the president visited the troops at Walter Reed.

“They see him a lot,” Mr. Craig said he was told by the Lt. Col. “He never brings any press with him. Sometimes he’ll bring Mrs. Bush. It has been this way for the past year.”

White House/Time photographer, Christopher Morris, in a photo essay for Time Magazine (Hat tip: The Anchoress) recounts:

One of my most memorable moments came in december of 2004 when I flew with Bush on Marine One to Bethesda, Maryland.

This is what I feel is probably my most memorable time of the 8 years…was because it was such a powerful moment to see the.. the president walk into the room with some very, very seriously wounded soldiers and with their parents and to…to just watch the dynamic of the commander in chief and with these soldiers; and in the car- in the car ride back I, you know, I looked over at the president and ’cause, you know, I just experienced that also- the situation in the room- and I…and I…and I said to him something like, “that was a pretty intense experience”; and I asked him like, you know, how does he do that; and his response to me- he looked me in the eye- and he just said that, uh,

“I have to do that, because I sent them there.”

Brooks Kraft/Corbis for Time

Carren, wife of milblogger Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss, posted the following in 2005:

Yes, we met President Bush today. He is an AMAZING man! As human as we all are… and genuinely cares about the American people. I will not go into detail about what we talked about, that will be up to Chuck. Let’s just say it was a day we will never forget. If you do not support Bush, that is your choice… please do not post your opinions (if they are negative) on this blog. I do not want a political debate. My husband met his Commander in Chief – and the honor was all ours.

Nice write up by Amy, over at A Soldier’s Perspective:

President Bush did not seem to care about scoring political points or making personal gains. That knowledge comforted me when my son Adam joined the Marine Corps in 2004. It was a fact that Adam would be going to war, but he would do so under a president who desired nothing more than to protect America. Knowing that, reassured me. My son would not be putting his life on the line as a pawn in someone’s political game or to fulfill some ulterior motive of the powerful. No, my son and every other person who served, did so at the direction of a man who himself was a servant to the people.

On August 31, 2006 President Bush sat with my family and privately expressed his condolences for our son’s death in Iraq. The sincerity of his heart was evident. Our son’s death was personal to him too. This young American had gone into battle at his direction and had come home to his family in a casket. He grieved with us but remained steadfast in his duty to defend America. Although we had just buried our son, we held firm to our belief in the need to complete and win the war in Iraq. The future of the American way of life depended on it.

In addition to taking the fight to the terrorist and keeping it off our homeland, the U.S. presence in Iraq liberated 25million people, and helped form an oasis of emerging freedom and democracy in the a volatile middle east, which was necessary for our safety here at home.

From a post last September…..Why President Bush was Late:

President Bush is known for his obsessive love of punctuality and routine. From Dead Certain, by Robert Draper, Pg 106:

The president often described this fidelity to schedule as a courtesy bestowed on others. “Whether it’s John McCain or an average citizen, they shouldn’t be kept waiting,” he would say.

~~~
Bush moved through his schedule with type A vengeance. He was restless and he hungered to compete. For a man thought to be leisurely, he seemed forever to be racing the clock. He did not eat a meal so much as disappear it. Eighteen holes of golf- why not make it a contest of speed as well as skill? George W. Bush always did. It seemed a point of pride to him that he could arrive at a finish line- any finish line- faster than the next guy. And if there was no other guy, only him…well, get it over with regardless.

One time, Colin Powell was running late to a Cabinet meeting. “Lock the door”, President Bush said. When a few minutes passed until finally there was a scuffling of the doorknob causing the Cabinet Room to erupt in laughter, President Bush signaled to allow the Secretary of State into the room. The President made his point.

It is framed against the backdrop of this story and understanding of how important “staying the schedule” and punctuality is to this President, that I bring you the following story on why President Bush allowed himself to depart 15 minutes behind schedule on his way to the Beijing Olympics…

The Value of Service

Commentary by Lt. Col. Mark Murphy
354th Maintenance Group deputy commander

8/15/2008 – EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — I learned a big lesson on service Aug. 4, 2008, when Eielson had the rare honor of hosting President Bush on a refueling stop as he traveled to Asia.

It was an event Eielson will never forget — a hangar full of Airmen and Soldiers getting to see the Commander in Chief up close, and perhaps even shaking his hand. An incredible amount of effort goes into presidential travel because of all of the logistics, security, protocol, etc … so it was remarkable to see Air Force One land at Eielson on time at precisely 4:30 p.m.–however, when he left less than two hours later, the President was 15 minutes behind schedule.

That’s a big slip for something so tightly choreographed, but very few people know why it happened. Here’s why.

On Dec. 10, 2006, our son, Shawn, was a paratrooper deployed on the outskirts of Baghdad. He was supposed to spend the night in camp, but when a fellow soldier became ill Shawn volunteered to take his place on a nighttime patrol–in the convoy’s most exposed position as turret gunner in the lead Humvee. He was killed instantly with two other soldiers when an IED ripped through their vehicle.

I was thinking about that as my family and I sat in the audience listening to the President’s speech, looking at the turret on the up-armored Humvee the explosive ordnance disposal flight had put at the edge of the stage as a static display.

When the speech was over and the President was working the crowd line, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a White House staff member. She asked me and my wife to come with her, because the President wanted to meet us.

Stunned, we grabbed our two sons that were with us and followed her back into a conference room. It was a shock to go from a crowded, noisy hangar, past all of those security people, to find ourselves suddenly alone in a quiet room.

The only thing we could hear was a cell phone vibrating, and noticed that it was coming from the jacket Senator Stevens left on a chair. We didn’t answer.

A short time later, the Secret Service opened the door and President Bush walked in. I thought we might get to shake his hand as he went through. But instead, he walked up to my wife with his arms wide, pulled her in for a hug and a kiss, and said, “I wish I could heal the hole in your heart.” He then grabbed me for a hug, as well as each of our sons. Then he turned and said, “Everybody out.”

A few seconds later, the four of us were completely alone behind closed doors with the President of the United States and not a Secret Service agent in sight.

He said, “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.” He pulled up a chair at the side of the room, and we sat down next to him. He looked a little tired from his trip, and he noticed that his shoes were scuffed up from leaning over concrete barriers to shake hands and pose for photos. He slumped down the chair, completely relaxed, smiled, and suddenly was no longer the President – he was just a guy with a job, sitting around talking with us like a family member at a barbeque.

For the next 15 or 20 minutes, he talked with us about our son, Iraq, his family, faith, convictions, and shared his feelings about nearing the end of his presidency. He asked each of our teenaged sons what they wanted to do in life and counseled them to set goals, stick to their convictions, and not worry about being the “cool” guy.

He said that he’d taken a lot of heat during his tenure and was under a lot of pressure to do what’s politically expedient, but was proud to say that he never sold his soul. Sometimes he laughed, and at others he teared up. He said that what he’ll miss most after leaving office will be his role as Commander in Chief.

One of the somber moments was when he thanked us for the opportunity to meet, because he feels a heavy responsibility knowing that our son died because of a decision he made. He was incredibly humble, full of warmth, and completely without pretense. We were seeing the man his family sees.

We couldn’t believe how long he was talking to us, but he seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever. In the end, he thanked us again for the visit and for the opportunity to get off his feet for a few minutes. He then said, “Let’s get some pictures.” The doors flew open, Secret Service and the White House photographer came in, and suddenly he was the President again. We posed for individual pictures as he gave each of us one of his coins, and then he posed for family pictures. A few more thank yous, a few more hugs, and he was gone.

The remarkable thing about the whole event was that he didn’t have to see us at all. If he wanted to do more, he could’ve just given a quick handshake and said, “Thanks for your sacrifice.” But he didn’t – he put everything and everyone in his life on hold to meet privately with the family of a Private First Class who gave his life in the service of his country.

What an incredible lesson on service. If the President of the United States is willing to drop everything on his plate to visit with a family, surely the rest of us can do it. No one is above serving another person, and no one is so lofty that he or she can’t treat others with dignity and respect.

We often think of service in terms of sacrificing ourselves for someone in a position above us, but how often do we remember that serving someone below us can be much more important? If you’re in a leadership capacity, take a good look at how you’re treating your people, and remember that your role involves serving the people you rely on every day.

One final word (citing from the Huffington Post, of all places):

When the White House called my wife, they said she wasn’t allowed to tell even my other son or daughter that we were invited to meet the President. They didn’t want the press to know, and said the President didn’t want the press to know. If it would have leaked out, we would not have had the meeting.”

Which is telling. It belies the complaints of those who think the President has somehow politicized the situation regarding those who have died in Iraq.

President Bush entered the Oval Office expecting to be a peacetime president, focused on the domestic front; history had a different set of plans for him. 9/11 has come to be the defining moment of his presidency, along with the U.S. blowback of 60 million liberated and two brutal regimes removed from power.

9/11 made this president; and nothing he does- most especially the consequences of his wartime decisions- has he taken lightly.

Are we better and safer off today than we were on 9/10? Yes.

President George W. Bush holds the badge of a police officer killed in the September attacks. “And I will carry this,” said President Bush during his address to Congress Sept. 20. “It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center.

Related:
President Bush: Comforter in Chief