Back in the early days of Arnold's term as Governor of California he was wildly popular. As Commander in Chief of the California National Guard he put his celebrity status to work for the Guard for recruiting purposes. He also did a lot of work with the families of National Guard soldiers and airmen serving on active duty overseas. He showed up one weekend at the National Guard installation where I serve to present awards to NG soldiers who had returned from Iraq and also to meet with the families of NG soldiers killed in the war. I was present as part of the team smoothing the way for his time on base and of course I made sure to have my camera ready. He shook hands with everyone in sight and posed for photos with every soldier who wanted to have one. I was too busy doing my job to get a picture taken with him but I did shake his hand and speak with him and get these photos. He seemed like a nice guy and certainly had a firm grip!
The Governator arrives!
Just after I shook hands with him. First I saluted him.
One of the CAARNG soldiers and family members
He made the driver get out of the driver's seat in the Humvee that was to take him to the medal ceremony. He wanted to drive!
Off he went. My wife was very annoyed that I didn't get my picture taken with him. She was (and still is) a big Arnold fan.
Thus ended one of my Hollywood momentary contacts with fame. Remind me to tell about the time I bumped into the old guy from "The Karate Kid".
