Mobility Airmen from Kadena dine with President Obama, first lady

Published March 21, 2012
By James Bowman
18th Wing Public Affairs

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- Master Sgt. Jessica Coombs and husband Master Sgt. Jeremy Coombs had a "once in a lifetime chance" to sit at the President's table and have dinner with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during an event dubbed, "A Nation's Gratitude: Honoring Those Who Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn."

The Kadena master sergeants were among the 78 service members who were invited to attend the Feb. 29 White House dinner in Washington. A Department of Defense press release described the event as a way to "express the nation's gratitude to, and recognize the significant contributions of, the men and women in uniform who served in Iraq."

"I couldn't even speak -- I was in shock," said Jessica, superintendent of the air terminal operations center at Kadena from the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron, after she found out that she was selected to attend the White House State dinner which honored veterans who sacrificed and served in Iraq.

When she and her husband Jeremy, superintendent of passenger operations for the 733rd AMS, entered the east entrance of the White House it was like stepping into a history book filled with paintings, statues and pictures of all the past presidents and first ladies. They and the other guests were given the freedom to stroll around the rooms of the East Wing of the White House which included the State Dining Room, the Vermeil Room, the Presidential Library, the Red Room, Green Room and Blue room; while the Marine Corps band was playing music and hor's doeruves were served.

"After standing in line we finally had the opportunity to meet the President and the First Lady. I told President Obama it was an honor to meet him and thanked Mrs. Obama for having us over for dinner," Jessica said.

After "Hail to the Chief" was played, President Obama walked over to the table were both master sergeants. were sitting and started talking to them about raising teenagers and the challenges and benefits of being a dual military couple with children.

The dinner was "relaxing, fun and the conversations were casual" with the commander-in-chief, said Jessica. She added that the president went out of his way to make sure they had everything they needed or wanted. "It was an amazing evening that we will never forget."

"I kept making sure I wasn't dreaming because never in a million years would I have though that loving my job and doing it the very best of my ability would put me in a situation as breathtaking as this," said Jessica.

Jessica was deployed to Iraq from June through December 2011 at Ali Air Base, also know as "Contingency Operating Base Adder." Her team moved more than 35,000 passengers, 65,000 tons of equipment on more than 3,000 missions. Coombs and her team were among the last Air Force members out of Iraq.

"We were working so hard to make sure everyone else got out that it came as a great relief to finally board the C-17 and more importantly have the confidence to say that not a single person or unauthorized item was left behind," Jessica said. "My team will take great pride in the huge accomplishment for a long time to come. We knew that doing our job was going to have a historical impact for our career field, so we didn't want to let anyone down."