Inside Marine One by Col. Ray L'Heureux

Author:Col. Ray L'Heureux
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466837751
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER 6

GETTING TO KNOW THE PRESIDENT

Crawford, Texas

When I tell people some of the stories from my time as a Presidential Pilot, the conversation often turns to politics. I don’t mind discussing politics with my friends, but many people are surprised when I tell them that politics had absolutely nothing to do with my job. The President’s politics were completely irrelevant to HMX-1, aside from the fact that his very job was political, and that job defined our schedule. Our mission was to provide executive-lift support for the President and his staff, wherever they wanted to go, and regardless of why.

First and foremost, being a Presidential Pilot was my job, and I was accountable to the White House Military Office for performing in that role. Aside from that, I would say it was much more personal than political. This is because, for some reason, the President gave me the opportunity to join him as part of Peloton One, his mountain biking club. Mountain biking seemed to be his favorite pastime, his favorite form of exercise, and I guessed it was probably therapeutic as well.

Obviously, the life of the President is fast paced and very demanding. And even though my role as HMX-1 Commander was also demanding, my primary role was to accompany and support the President wherever he went, as much as possible and as needed. Since the President used Camp David as the Presidential retreat it was meant to be, I found myself using it in the same way: as a refuge of relative quiet amid a chaotic job and schedule. Those weekends spent at camp are some of my most memorable.

The same thing applied to the ranch in Crawford, Texas. The First Family lived in the White House for most of the year, but they spent many weekends and each August on their ranch in Crawford. That was home, and the President was even more relaxed and in his element there. Just like Camp David, I became a regular visitor to the ranch, and rode bikes there with the President many times.

Sometimes I had to pass—I mean, I was working when I was there; but whenever I could, I was all in for the rides. I was still competing in triathlons, and this mountain biking also gave me a chance to work out. Riding with the President was never just a relaxing pedal through the back country. He was really good, and this was hard-charging, advanced riding. Just as with HMX-1 itself, there was no room for incompetence in Peloton One. If you couldn’t keep up, you probably wouldn’t be invited back.

As time went on, I always shared the mountain biking stories with my staff and everyone at HMX-1, and included them as much as possible. The President was also very friendly and generous about it, always taking pictures with any new riders. Even as Marines in the largest aviation squadron in the Corps, we still had a certain amount of downtime. This was not a bad way to spend some of it.

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