UPDATE:
The White House has published the list of names of the 78 servicemembers invited to the “A Nation’s Gratitude Dinner” at the White on February 29 honoring veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.(Previously it had been announced that 64 servicemembers would be invited)
Troops were selected by a committee of the Defense Department’s senior enlisted members, said Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Wilson, the Pentagon’s public affairs chief.
“This is the beginning of a thank you.” Wilson said. “We wanted to make sure the entire country was represented.
“So all states and territories, all ranks, all services, all backgrounds – the point of it was that in the East Room that night, that that room would look like the America that served on the battlefield in Iraq.”
Click here to see the list of troops selected.
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Original Post:
While questions — and controversy — abound on the issue of whether, and when, to have a national ticker-tape parade for our Iraq War veterans, the Obama administration is proceeding with plans to hold a formal dinner honoring those troops at the White House on February 29.
When the White House first announced plans for this dinner a week ago Monday, few details were known as to who would receive the coveted invites. Only that representatives from both the enlisted and officer ranks would be invited and that the dinner — “an unprecedented event by the White House, normally reserved for foreign dignitaries” — is designed to be “an expression of the nation’s gratitude for the achievements and enormous sacrifices of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq War and of the families who supported them.”
Today, USA TODAY published some of the “criteria” that were used to make up the list of troops to be invited and information about others who will also be attending:
First and foremost, the Pentagon had to — in just a few days — select 64 troops to represent the 1.5 million American men and women who fought in Iraq.
The troops had to be combat veterans representing every Branch of Service, every state and territory, and “[E]thnic, racial and gender diversity was crucial, and every … every rank had to be included.”
“There will be 29 soldiers, 17 Marines, eight Airmen, eight sailors and two members of the Coast Guard; 21 officers up through a three-star general and 43 enlisted members down to a private; and 50 men and 14 women.”
According to USA TODAY:
“The whole kit and caboodle,” said Marine Sgt. Maj. Brian Battaglia, senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and highest ranking enlisted officer in the military.
“What we wanted inside that (East) Room is America,” Battaglia said of the White House location where the dinner will be held.
The 64 Iraq War veterans will be among 100 guests being invited to the White House, including “the service chiefs, families who lost a loved one in combat and other selected VIPs .”
The issue of the ticker-tape parade(s) will continue. (I will shortly share the surprising views of an Army infantryman who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004.) But the evening of February 29, themed “A Nation’s Gratitude” and believed to be “the first such event of its kind at the White House to mark the end of a major war” promises to be an unforgettable experience for 64 of our combat veterans — as it should be.
White House State Dining Room: Official White House Photo
