I posted this on another thread, but it seems relevant here too, since it was about this thread:
I can only imagine what a morale lift that was for those troops. I remember how lifted my boat (A CG Cutter) was after G.H.W. Bush (then VP) visited the ship while in Mexico... unfortunately for me... on the cruise right before I signed onboard. But they were talking about it for months afterward. It was huge honor for the unit, and everybody was proud of it. My roomie was the bos'n mate that got to go pick him up and drive him around for a bit. He talked that up for years afterward. But then again, we all had the honor of having Ronnie as our CINC. Those were good old days.
It is refreshing to have those "good old days" yet again, with a CINC worthy of that respect and pride.
Very true!
And with a real man as president, like we have now and we had with President Reagan, these meetings with the president — especially the surprise ones! — can do wonders for morale, as is evidenced by your CG crew's reactions after meeting then-Vice President Bush. I can definitely understand, though, how they'd talk about that meeting for years after.