Maj. Gen. Williams: 'A visit from the president is always a very special thing, but this was historic.'

FORT LEE — When the Commander in Chief decides to pay a visit to a military base, the saying goes that they love it when he’s there, but they dread the week before. For Fort Lee however, it has been a labor of love, according to Maj. Gen. Darrell K. Williams.

"You don't ever take a visit from the president of the United States lightly, and there was certainly a lot of work to be done over the last week in preparation, and a lot of logistics to be handled," said Williams. “Luckily, logistics happen to be right in our wheelhouse here at Fort Lee, so the president certainly came to the right place.”

According to Williams, there was a lot to be arranged, many of it played by ear as more details came down the chain of command, from making arrangements with CNN over arranging the broadcast equipment, to handling force protection and security concerns.

Needless to say, there was some pressure for everything to be just perfect, from the base commander on down.

“A visit from the president is always a very special thing, but this was historic,” Williams said. “This is, to our knowledge, the first time a sitting president has ever paid a visit to Fort Lee, just ahead of the Fort Lee Centennial too, so it goes without saying we made sure to pull out all the stops, and that everything was squared away.”

Perhaps nobody knows that more than Staff Sgt. Tiara Brown, a vocalist with 392nd Army Band, who sang the National Anthem, and tasked with delivering the performance of a lifetime — and she did so with less than 24 hours notice.

“I was told I would be singing in front of the president only yesterday, and the nerves set in almost immediately, I didn’t know what to say, or think, but it was worse yesterday than today,” said Brown. “I can’t even really put it into words what it was like, I feel like I’m in a dream, and I haven’t quite woken up yet. It was short notice, but I thank God for the opportunity.”

It’s a sentiment shared by the soldiers who had the chance to meet the president, including General Williams, who called meeting the president “one of the highlights of his career.”

“Not too many people get to meet the commander in chief, and I’m grateful my soldiers and I got that opportunity today, and that the president gave recognition to what we do here,” said Williams. “Of all of the places that the President could have chosen to do a town hall, to address military and family issues, he chose Fort Lee, which I think says a lot about Fort Lee, and about the surrounding communities, and I think we represented ourselves proudly today.”

• Sean CW Korsgaard may be reached at skorsgaard@progress-index.com or 804-722-5172.