I shook hands with Ronald Reagan. 1986
Really. 
Earlier, I don’t know why I was being so hush-hush (here, in post #30) — the guy I referred to went on to be President and a warlord of Somalia. He was not a President or a warlord when I knew him.
We served in the Marines together in the 1980s and 1990s, and during Desert Storm. Back then we called him Corporal Farrah, or just Farrah. I was his section chief. His full name is Hussein Farrah Aidid (Wikipedia link). He is the son of the late Mohamed Farrah Aidid (Wikipedia page), the warlord from the incidents described in the book and movie, Black Hawk Down.
Back when I knew him, Corporal Farrah was an undergrad engineering student, more book smart than street smart; he was kind and genteel and had a ready smile. That he went on to be President and a warlord of Somalia baffles me somewhat, but sometimes life’s circumstances grab a hold of you and determine your fate more strongly than the direction a young then-20-something kid thinks he’s headed. But, then again, being born the son of Mohamed Farrah Aidid probably has a way of determining your eventual fate.
So, yeah, I would love the opportunity to meet Farrah for dinner and shoot the breeze.
*“Hey, Farrah, it’s been almost 30 years. What’s new with you?”
“Me? Naah, my life is boring. You don’t want to hear about that.”*
(And while I’m at it, let me not tell you about my family. :D)
I don’t know how far Farrah got in the Marines. He probably made sergeant, and maybe into the staff NCO ranks. I do recall reading somewhere that he remains proud of being a Marine, and he has coined the Once A Marine, Always A Marine adage about himself.
BTW, Wikipedia’s page on Farrah has an error. Farrah was not a gunner with the B 1/14 artillery battery. There’s a footnote there, but it seems some reporter got it wrong. Instead, Farrah was in the FDC with me. I was one of the Ops Chiefs. Gunners are the guys manning the artillery pieces, loading, firing, and then reloading the M198s we had then. FDC is about 30-50 yards behind the gun line. We’re the Fire Direction Control — the eyes, ears and brains of the artillery.
The others in B 1/14 FDC back then, I’ve lost touch with them just like I did with Farrah. So Chang, Ellis, Hinojosa, Granados-Ramos, Kelly, and the others, … I wonder where you are.
Marine Artillery: On Time, On Target. Death from above.
I’m not a war-monger, BTW. I’m a peace lover. Peace, first and foremost. But sometimes people just can’t get along, and if the shit ever hits the fan, you’ll want the US Marines on your side. And the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard too. We all have a role to play.
Semper Fi,
Bullitt
If Obama didn’t spank you, it doesn’t count.
I met GHW Bush on July 4, 1970 while he was running, unsuccessfully, for the Senate from Texas. I was 7 years old.
It doesn’t count but I’ve met this guy a couple of times. His father is the Orleanist claimant to the French throne. About as close as I’m likely to ever get to royalty I suppose.
I was at that event, though nowhere near the podium. Sarah Jane Moore was at the same event but waited until the next day to take a shot at President Ford.
And USMC PFC Oliver Sipple was there to save Ford’s life that day.
I saw Obama when he was running for president in '08. Virginia, being a battleground state, got visited quite frequently if I recall correctly.
If we’re allowing heads of government - I’ve met Tony Abbott, the current PM, twice, although both times were before he became PM.
I also met John Howard, a former PM, one morning while I was exercising.
I threw a tomato at the (then) PM of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, during a demonstration at a Melbourne university in (I think) 1978. My aim wasn’t too crash-hot, so I missed by miles…but that was the closest I’ve ever been.
The school I went to was just across the street from the King of Spain’s summer palace. He only spent a few weeks a year there, but you could tell when he was in because the street got full of police patrols.
Once I was in my mum’s car, stopped behind a red traffic light, when another car stopped right next to ours. We looked at it, and realised that the driver was the Queen of Spain. Strangely enough, there is a guy who works at that traffic light selling newspapers to the drivers whenever there is a red light. As soon as he approached the Queen’s car, two men in black suits exited the car right behind and made it clear to the newspaper vendor that he was not allowed to talk to the Queen.
when Obama was a guest on late night with Jimmy Fallon I was in the audience so maybe 50 feet from him
I was one of a group of schoolchildren out to see Queen Elizabeth II pass by in her motorcade, when she travelled down Avenue Road in Toronto in 1973. So, about 40 feet.
I was walking along Queen Street in Toronto when Mexican president Jose Lopez Portillo came out of his hotel (the Sheraton, across from City Hall) in about 1981. I did not meet Mr. Portillo, but I was close enough that I could have extended my hand and greeted him.
On the “head of government” side, I came within two feet of Canada’s Pierre Trudeau during his 1980 election campaign. He was leaving the podium after a speech at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough College. I was a student at the University, and was at the College that day, and skipped a class in order to hear Mr. Trudeau speak. I did hear him speak, and he exited right past my aisle seat, flanked by RCMP officers. I stuck out my hand to greet him, but a Mountie brushed it away.
My ex-wife got even more lucky. She was walking by the national War Memorial in Ottawa, Canada, when Prime Minister Jean Chretien arrived in his car to lay a wreath. She was literally walking by his car as it pulled up; and she recognized him when he got out. She could be bold as brass at times, and so, despite security, she extended her hand and said, “Good morning, Mr. Chretien.” According to her, he was a little taken aback, but still shook her hand and wished her a good morning.
I shook hands with Dubya in 2002.
Not exactly a head of state, I shook hands with Robert Kennedy in 1960.
When I was 4 or 5 my grandfather took me to see and hear a speech by Eisenhower, I don’t know if he was already president or still campaigning. It would have been 1950 or 51.
I was cooed over by the king of Norway as a baby.
If those years, then he wasn’t president yet. He won in '52.
Shaking the hand of RFK is cool. I’m convinced he would’ve beaten Humphrey, and Nixon. What a world of a difference things would be…
I saw H Bush’s motorcade drive by.
Doesn’t really count, but the Dalai Lama walked by me in Ann Arbor one day.
Did he happen to mention that when you die, on your deathbed, you would receive total consciousness? ‘Cause then you’d have that goin’ for you, which is nice.
I’ve been reasonably close to quite a few of the British Royals at various times, including the Queen I think. Mostly just within waving-a-flag-and-shouting-“Hooray!” distance as a small child though.
More randomly, I’ve shaken hands with the Queen Consort of Brunei, and I think I had to stop the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from taking a teacup into the crowd while at the rugby.
I rubbed elbows, as I like to say, with Trudeau. Or rather, since I’m tall and he was short, my elbow rubbed his shoulder. I was working as a news cameraman filming his arrival at the airport, and at one point was walking beside him. My attention was elsewhere and I ended up veering over enough that we touched. Nowadays, I doubt that I’d be allowed to get that close to a PM. Years later, when Alexa McDonough was leader of the NDP, her security pulled me back when I got too close to her.