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| NASHVILLE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT
US SENATORS |
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As the driver of GUEST 1, the vehicle which provides transportation for US Senators, Congressmen, Governors etc. in the Presidential Motorcade, I was honored to be in the presence of President Bush, US Senators Thompson and Frist, Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Van Hillery, Ed Bryant, Bi-partisan guest US Congressman Bob Clement (D), and more Secret Service, police, and armed agents than one could possibly imagine in one place at one time.
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Saturday morning September 14, 2002, I received a call from an old friend who got me involved with the
Republican Party of Davidson County, Nashville, TN, when Shannon & I moved here seven years ago.
He said and I quote, "Hey Anita, your daughter's Commander in Chief is coming here Tuesday morning
(Sept 17th) and I am to recruit eight drivers for the Presidential Motorcade for the guests and press flying
in on Air Force One. Can you do it?" Well naturally I agreed and early Tuesday morning we met and
picked up our vehicles at the airport lead by a White House Team Leader and drove to the heavily
guarded National Guard facility on the grounds of the Nashville Airport. I was instructed to line up my
van adjacent to the Presidential Limousine. It is not exactly a limousine at all; it is a tank in fact, has
tires like a Hummer and the only thing on it that resembles a car is the Cadillac insignia. The Secret
Service told me it is actually a tank and you can't help but noticing the glass windows of deep green.
The communications hardware which we were surrounded by was amazing as well as all the vehicles
that they flew in to be part of the motorcade. One of the uniformed male US Secret Service had
previously been a nurse at the USNA. While waiting for the Commander in Chief at the convention
center, the Secret Service driver for President Bush surprised me by asking where I went to church in
Nashville. When I said Christ Presbyterian Church, he smiled and said my parents and my uncle and
aunt go there! I said my brother-in-law is the Senior Associate Pastor there. I had my picture taken with
him in front of the President's limo. It is a small world. He said he had driven the President in
Annapolis for the USNA graduation Class of 2001; I was there that day as I stayed after Herndon to
preview the graduation events three years before Shannon's Class of 2004 scheduled graduation. I told
him President Bush will be back for the Class of 2004 graduation and there will be several mids from
his home town of Nashville and the middle TN area in that class.
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It was a truly memorable day: orchestrated like a well choreographed technologically driven event. To be
part of the conversation in the
van with these leaders was absolutely a thrill but because we had to drive practically on the tail of the
vehicle in front of us busting every light and intersection (it was hard looking at a red light and driving right through it)
you could just listen. Senator Frist had met me before as he had given Shannon her nomination; he
asked again how she was getting along. He asked me to please pass along an invitation for her to come visit
him at his Washington DC Senatorial Office. So before we arrived back to Air Force One, I asked Frist and Thompson if I could
get a picture with both of them before they hurried off. They courteously obliged for the top pic in addition to the
Presidential limo and USSS driver from Nashville, and Air Force One. Notice Senator Frist and I are
holding up my mid's picture in her full dress parade uniform taken during graduation week of 2001. So I
had her with me in the Presidential Motorcade in spirit and literally on the dash!
Pictured at right from L to R, US Secret Service Motorcade Lead (our boss), President Bush, Congressman Bob Clement
Click here to see an animation of the PRESIDENTIAL VISIT
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