President Obama Visits Brazil

Angie told me this is my blog to write, so here we go. I never imagined most of what is in this blog already, however the month of March may have topped it all in terms of unexpected opportunities. A month ago, the Consulate requested help with the President’s visit to Brazil. Specifically we were asked to help coordinate room reservations, transportation and immigration for the military personnel that would be arriving in support of the visit. In fact, a small army of over 800 people arrived prior to the President and nearly a dozen support Aircraft. My duty soon transformed into translation services and acting as a liaison between the Brazilian Air Force and the advance teams for Air Force One, Secret Service and Marine One. The end result was amazing access to the Ramp during the President’s arrival, to include chalking Air Force One (chalks are the wooden blocks that are placed around the airplane’s tires to prevent it from rolling once the engines are turned off). After chalking the jet, I stood just to the side of the steps as the Obama family descended. Regardless of your politics, it is amazing to be that close to the man who is dealing with so much at once. To think that during his short visit to Brazil to improve economic relations, events around the world included the Tsunami and Nuclear disaster in Japan, US strikes in Libya, ever-present domestic issues and, nearly forgotten, operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and even troops in Kosovo. Unfortunately, I did not get a peek inside AF1; I’ll just have to wait until next time…