Posted on 10/03/2001 8:15:51 AM PDT by LavaDog
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. — Officials at Barksdale Air Force Base who met President Bush on Sept. 11 describe him as calm and stoic on a day of terror. Bush stopped at the northwest Louisiana base for nearly two hours during his zigzag trip on Air Force One from Florida back to Washington, D.C., following the terrorist attacks in New York City and on the Pentagon.
About 10 a.m., Barksdale officials received word that a very large plane was arriving unexpectedly that would need security within 30 minutes. It didn’t take long to deduce that the plane was Air Force One. "We figured it out," Lt. Gen. Thomas Keck, commander of 8th Air Force.
To welcome the president, the staff offered him orange juice, soft drinks or water. Bush accepted water. The president sat at Keck’s desk, made telephone calls on a secure phone, went over his press statement and watched developments on CNN. He called Vice President Dick Cheney, his press secretary Karen Hughes and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"You’ve never met a more down-to-earth guy," Keck said. "While he was fairly angry, he was very much in control. He already knew the response of the American people — shock, grief, rage. He already anticipated that."
Keck told Bush it was a privilege to have him on the base. "I guess I put you on the map," Bush replied.
As Keck and the president drove back to Air Force One down the flight line, Barksdale crews and maintenance crews waved and gave Bush a thumbs-up.
Air Force One left Barksdale for Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska with 150,000 pounds of jet fuel, 70 box lunches and 25 pounds of bananas. "They wanted to stock up," Keck said. "They didn’t know where they were going or how long they would be there. It was just good planning."
Keck said Bush gave a confident reply when Keck told him that the men and women at Barksdale would do his bidding: "He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘I know."’
I'll bet that Lt. Gen. Thomas Keck was silently thinking "Thank God I'm not having this conversation with Gore, or worse, Clinton..."
But, but . . . I thought that they were busy fabricating a threat to the President in order to explain the decision not to return to DC!
Somehow the thought of the plane dashing off with a 25 pound cache of bananas makes me laugh. Don't know why--LOL!!!
What a GREAT President we have!!! And how wonderful it is that our fine men/women in uniform finally have a commander in chief they can respect!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.