Presidential Transportation

This morning the boys and I headed out early to Washington DC. One of the dads in our Cub Scout den is in the Secret Service and had arranged for a special, private tour of the facility. Wow! I have mentioned before what amazing connections we have in the den but I am just amazed! Dave and I were saying on the way home that if the year ended now, we would be good to go!

Today was such a fascinating look into such a secret organization. This facility is closed to outsiders. I meant to take a picture of the building to show you how non-descript it is. Just the number on the door--no huge "SECRET SERVICE" sign anywhere at all. We had to have our social security numbers cleared before we could tour and were given a big list of do's and don'ts. While we waited outside around back to be admitted a car pulled up. There was a warning buzzer, a door raised, and the big, cylindrical barriers dropped down into the ground for the vehicle to enter. The boys were thrilled! :)

Once we finally got inside, we had to be individually checked through the turnstiles and headed down to the elevators. We passed the room where they store the weapons they take with them on the way to the garage. Here is a picture of the den in front of P-1, which was used in President Bush's inauguration. There are a total of 7 limos. We found out all about how the vehicles are made (from the ground up, by specific design, not retro-fitted later). We even heard how Goodyear shuts down their plant for an entire day each year just to manufacture a year's worth of tires for the presidential vehicles. We learned a LITTLE about the armor, got to look inside the cars, and got to see one of the "Camp David" vehicles that are really SUV's.

It was funny to see such enormous, important vehicles down in a plain, underground parking garage, next to the personal vehicles of the agents.

After we finished looking at the vehicles, we got to go up to the museum. It's interesting that the museum is not open to the public. They have a Wall of Honor outside, with the badges and names of the agents who have died on duty since the agency began. Many of them died in vehicle accidents, there were some heart attacks, one died in the World Trade Center. They have a book with their stories next to the wall. And inside the museum is a complete history of the Secret Service. The Secret Service was started in 1865 to crack down on the enormous problem (up to 1/3 of the circulating currency) of counterfeiting. It wasn't until after the assassination of President McKinley in 1901 that the Secret Service starting being used as protection. In fact, until 2003, it still fell under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Dept. We got to watch a movie, check out some counterfeit bills, and follow a timeline of the Secret Service in the museum. They had some articles that were recovered from the World Trade Center that belonged to the agent that was killed, and others who worked there.

Recognize that picture behind Dave? That was taken on Thanksgiving Day, 2003, in Baghdad. Dave was actually probably just about as close when the photo was taken as he is in this photo.
Poor Joshua, though. When we move and he finds a new Cub Scout Pack, he's going to say, what? We're just taking a trip to the local library? You should hear what I did when I was a Tiger Scout! :)