Bulletin E-Edition:
Mt. View grad dines with president
2nd Lt. Christopher Gowgiel among 12 at Bush’s table
By Christopher Stollar / The Bulletin
Published: September 15. 2007 4:00AM PST
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“He said that Oregon was beautiful, that there’s a lot of good trails there for bikes,” 2nd Lt. Christopher Gowgiel said of his conversation with Bush.
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When 2nd Lt. Christopher Gowgiel heard that he and 11 other Marines were handpicked to sit at the same table as President Bush and share a meal of roast beef and mashed potatoes Friday, he couldn’t believe it.
But the former Mountain View High School student got a front-row seat as the president gave a speech to about 200 Marines at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. Gowgiel, 26, sat almost right across from him.
“I was very excited, just seeing our commander in chief,” Gowgiel told The Bulletin. “Just the way he conversed with all the Marines there; it really was a comfortable atmosphere. … Going in, I think he knew it’s the Marine Corps, so he didn’t have much to prove.”
“He’s our commander in chief, and we’re going to follow him and do what the mission entails.”
Gowgiel said his staff platoon commander picked him to eat with Bush because of his ease in talking with those above him.
The commander told Gowgiel that he does not get nervous around leaders and talks easily with them. Not to mention, Gowgiel said, he has a strong grade point average and performs well in his classes at the base, where he is receiving officer training on leadership and combat tactics.
Bush arrived at about 11 a.m., sitting down with Gowgiel and his fellow Marines in Charlie Company, 6th Platoon.
They engaged in small talk for about 40 minutes, asking Bush about his family and what he enjoys doing in his free time. Bush said he enjoys fishing, hunting and biking.
Gowgiel said one Marine asked Bush if he wants to write a book someday after leaving the Oval Office.
“He said after this he doesn’t need to be in the spotlight anymore,” Gowgiel said.
“After he’s done with his term in office, he wants to go back to Texas and lay low, still be active with the war on terrorism, but not be the main focus anymore.”
Gowgiel didn’t ask Bush any questions, but Bush asked the 2000 Mountain View graduate where he hailed from.
“He was a very personable guy,” Gowgiel said. “He asked me what school I went to, and he said that Oregon was beautiful, that there’s a lot of good trails there for bikes.”
At noon, Bush finished eating and talked to the Marines about the war in Iraq and his Thursday-night speech, in which he discussed pulling out about 21,700 troops by next summer.
Later, Bush told reporters about his conversation with the Marines over lunch.
“I made it clear that the sacrifices that they and their families were going to make were necessary for the short-term and long-term security of the country,” Bush said, according to a White House transcript. “That we’d rather defeat the enemy overseas than have to face them here, that we fully understand, or I fully understand, that if we were to be driven out of Iraq that the Middle East could be in chaos.”
Gowgiel said he enjoyed listening to Bush but declined to comment on his personal views about the war.
“As a Marine, we stay out of the politics,” he said. “That’s not our mission. I’m in the military. We do what we’re told from our commander. That’s what we focus on as the Marines.”
Gowgiel joined the Marines about a year ago after graduating from Oregon State University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, according to school records.
He became interested in the service during high school. Gowgiel thought about enlisting right after graduation, but a friend told him to attend college first. That friend ended up dying in an Osprey aircraft training accident.
“I respected him, and I looked up to him, and I decided that’s the route I’ll go,” Gowgiel said. “I’m glad I made that choice … I wanted to lead the Marines and be someone they trust and they could look up to, someone who could be confident and who is going to do everything to get these guys home and safe with their families.”
Gowgiel comes from a long line of military men.
His grandfather, 69-year-old William Gowgiel, of the La Pine area, said he was in the Navy. William Gowgiel’s father, 87-year-old Stanley Gowgiel, fought on the beaches of Normandy during World War II, he added.
While Christopher Gowgiel has also gone into military service, he has maintained an independent streak, said his grandfather. He joined the Marines instead of the Navy, as his grandpa wanted.
“He’s his own person,” William Gowgiel added. “He has done his entire college on his own. Nobody helped him … He never came to us for anything.”
Gowgiel’s former math teacher from Mountain View, Clain Campagna, said he was glad to hear that one of his students got to meet the president and pursue his dream.
“As a high school student, he kind of had his priorities squared away,” Campagna said. “Lots of times high school kids don’t have too much direction; they kind of wander around. He wasn’t that way at all.”
Friday’s visit with the president came with another benefit for Gowgiel — a break from the usual Marine Corps food.
He had three slices of strawberry cheesecake.
“The chow food usually is not as good as the food that the president got for us,” Gowgiel said. “It’s still good food and all that, but this was definitely better.”
Christopher Stollar can be reached at 617-7818 or cstollar@bendbulletin.com.
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