Army Chief Warrant Officer thought dinner at White House invite was a prank

Theme for troops at Iraq war dinner: ‘Humbled’
By Gina Harkins - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 20:45:45 EST
Getting a phone call that you have a dinner scheduled with the president in the White House’s East Room might sound like a prank — and that’s what many Iraq war veterans thought when they got that call.

“My brigade commander said, ‘Hey, you’ve been selected as one of x number of people to go — congratulations,’” Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 John Nikolao said. “I kept waiting for him to say, ‘just kidding.’”

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Obama leads guests to a toast Feb. 29 as he hosts a dinner for members of the U.S. military who served in Iraq in the East Room of the White House.

WHAT’S FOR DINNER?

The menu for Wednesday’s White House included:

• Salad of heirloom tomatoes with baby mozzarella cheese with basil and balsamic vinaigrette.

• Dry aged ribeye steak with bearnaise sauce and yukon gold potato croquettes.

• Chocolate creme brulee with brownie.

President Obama and the first lady hosted the formal dinner of gratitude Wednesday night for those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn and their family members. In a room typically reserved for heads of state, veterans and their families were invited to commemorate the end of the war.

“These rooms have hosted presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens,” Obama said. “But in the history of this house, there has never been a night quite like this.”

The nearly 80 veterans, hand-selected by Pentagon officials, are meant to serve as a cross-section of not only the more than 1 million troops who served in Iraq, but the U.S. in general. Every state and territory was to be represented.
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Gold Star wife gets seat next to first lady
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 14:38:43 EST
Kim Felts, a Gold Star wife from Fayetteville, N.C., will sit next to Michelle Obama tonight at a dinner being hosted by the president and first lady in honor of service members.

Felts’ husband, Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr., died Nov. 14, 2006, in Baghdad when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
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