Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Schumaker | 160219-N-UK306-136 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 26, 2016) President Barack Obama...... read more read more
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - President Barack Obama arrived at Cecil Airport Feb. 26. while en route to a speaking engagement at a nearby plant.
Cecil Airport is a public joint civilian-military airport and spaceport currently being utilized by the U.S. Navy while the airstrip at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville is undergoing renovations.
As the president departed Air Force One, he waved to a cheering crowd comprised of uniformed service members, civilians and members of the media.
Capt. Howard Wanamaker, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Jacksonville welcomed the president after he stepped off the staircase of Air Force One.
“It was magnificent,” said Wanamaker. “He’s very personable. I got a chance to give him one of my coins and he gave me one of his. It’s just a true honor to meet him.”
The president then shook hands, took pictures and briefly spoke with a portion of the attendees before departing to his speaking engagement.
“It was an honor to meet our commander in chief,” said Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Amber Nydam. “I got to shake his hand and take a selfie with him, I didn’t think I’d be able to do that in my Navy career. It was a really awesome experience I won’t forget.”
Preparations for the president’s visit had been in the works for over a week. Security precautions such as the pre-placement of equipment and the adherence to safety procedures and policies were of the utmost importance.
“I was confident it would go successfully,” said Cmdr. Stephen Polk, operations officer of Naval Air Station Jacksonville. “We’ve got a lot of professionals out here doing what they’re supposed to do, and we collectively achieved a successful arrival and departure.”
With all the behind-the scenes preparation, Polk says that the significance of having President Obama visit is not lost on him.
“He’s the most highly-regarded and coveted distinguished visitor we can have,” he said. “It takes a lot of work to organize and there’s a lot of different entities that came together for it.”
Capt. Wanamaker also attributes the success of the president’s visit to the collective work of many individuals.
“We had outstanding support from the Coast Guard, the Florida Army and Air National Guard, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, Cecil Airport employees and all the law enforcement agencies out here,” he said. “Everyone came together at the beginning of the week and worked hard to see what we saw out there. I think it went very smoothly.”
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.26.2016 18:37 |
| Story ID: | 190301 |
| Location: | JACKSONVILLE, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 212 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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