In My Time - Dick Cheney [262]
When the brief arrived at the court, the fact that I had joined it was pretty big news. It generated a front-page story in the Washington Post headlined, “Cheney Joins Congress in Opposing D.C. Gun Ban: Vice President Breaks with Administration.” White House chief of staff Josh Bolten wasn’t happy. He came to my office to tell me he needed to tell Addington that we’d committed a “process foul.” I wasn’t sure what that meant but told Josh to be my guest. Addington, who was always careful to protect the institution of the vice presidency, listened and then explained to Josh, with a smile, I’m sure, that he worked for the vice president, not the president’s chief of staff, and that the Senate functions of the vice president were the vice president’s business.
Most others around the West Wing seemed pleased. Barry Jackson, who had replaced Karl Rove as the president’s political advisor, said he was delighted to see that I’d taken a firm position in support of the Second Amendment. The president never said a word to me about it. I don’t know to this day whether he’d signed off on the Justice Department position or left it to Josh Bolten. But it was a mistake. There was no reason for us to back off our strong support of the Second Amendment. And the Supreme Court agreed, affirming the Court of Appeals decision on June 26, 2008. Justice Antonin Scalia later joked that the Court was unsure how to rule until, thankfully, “the vice president’s brief showed up.”
AT 3:00 P.M. ON Thursday, March 20, 2008, my helicopter touched down at Bagram Air Base, twenty-seven miles north of Kabul. Built primarily during the Soviet invasion, Bagram is today one of America’s largest military bases in Afghanistan. I joined some of our troops for dinner that night. Often when I was visiting troops in the field, I would participate in reenlistment and award ceremonies. It was an honor to watch young soldiers on the front lines raise their hands and take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. In the awards ceremonies I was often asked to pin medals on soldiers who had demonstrated exemplary bravery and courage under fire. No ceremony I participated in as vice president was more memorable than the one at Bagram Air Base that evening.
On April 25, 2007, Specialist Monica Brown, a nineteen-year-old army medic from Lake Jackson, Texas, had been traveling in a convoy at dusk in Afghanistan’s Paktika Province, when the vehicle behind her struck an improvised explosive device, seriously injuring all five soldiers inside. The convoy immediately came under small-arms fire. Without hesitation, Brown and her platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Jose Santos, jumped from their vehicle and ran back to the burning Humvee. As vehicles in the convoy attempted to maneuver to provide cover for Brown to care for the patients, the insurgents began firing mortar rounds. Under heavy fire, Brown, with no regard for her own safety, loaded the wounded into a vehicle to move them a short distance away and directed other soldiers to assist her in stabilizing them and preparing them for evacuation. One of the injured soldiers, Specialist Jack Bodami, said this about her: “To say she handled herself well would be an understatement. It was amazing to see her keep completely calm and take care of our guys with all that going on around her. Of all the medics we’ve had with us throughout the year, she was the one I trusted the most.”
For her bravery, Specialist Brown became only the second woman since World War II to be awarded a Silver Star.
At Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan, pinning the Silver Star on Specialist Monica Brown, only the second woman to be awarded the Silver Star since World War II, for her bravery in combat. (Official White House Photo/David Bohrer)
After her citation was read, I pinned the medal on Specialist Brown. Her commanders were lined up nearby, and there wasn’t a dry eye among them. I noticed that my lead Secret Service agent, Pat Caldwell, also had tears in his eyes. He whispered