Community Corner

Long Beach Infantryman Awaits Obama's Visit

Keith Grant talks to Patch about life at Fort Campbell, the base of the pilots who flew Navy Seals to Pakistan to hunt down bin Laden.

Long Beach native Keith Grant, an infantry captain with 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, expected to be busy at work even though President Obama would visit his base on Friday.

“From what I'm told, he's going to speak only at the airfield to some just-returned soldiers,” Grant wrote in an email to Patch on Thursday after he inquired about the president's visit. “So I won't be anywhere near him.”

Obama is reportedly scheduled to meet not only the troops who recently returned to the base from Afghanistan, but also the pilots who flew the Navy Seals to Pakistan to hunt down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who they shot dead in a raid in a compound there early Monday morning. Fort Campbell is also the base for the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment that transported the commando team.

The president’s visit comes the day after he took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the former World Trade Center, site of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. Despite the significance of the president's expected arrival, Grant said it was nevertheless just another day at the fort.

“In regards to the atmosphere here this week, what I can tell you is that for the soldiers it's still business as usual,” Grant said. “We still have the same work to do every day regardless of any other events … We don't get fazed by very much. Especially if we're busy.”

On Friday morning, he told Patch that his unit will send troops to greet the president. "These are young men who recently returned from a long, tough fight in Afghanistan, so this is a nice recognition of the good work they did over there," he wrote.

Grant learned about bin Laden’s death on Monday morning when phone lit up with celebratory messages from his friends in the Army. His initial reaction was to recall the strong emotions that hit him on 9/11 and that endured in the days, weeks and months that followed.

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At the time, Grant was editor of the Long Beach Herald newspaper. He met with and wrote stories about the Long Beach families whose loved ones were killed on 9/11 and the deeply affected city community, as well as obituaries for the casualties. Among them was , who joined FDNY's Rescue One, one of the first companies on the horrific scene.

During his three-year stint at the Herald, Grant enlisted in the National Guard in 2002 and joined the Army in 2003, after which he served two combat tours in Iraq. He returned to the states in February 2010.

“My next reaction is as a soldier and the overwhelming pride I have in all of my fellow soldiers, every one of whom volunteered to serve our country during a time of war,” Grant said. “But as much as we celebrate the job our brother SEALs did yesterday, our work isn't going to stop. I have friends in both Iraq and Afghanistan, including one who just left for Afghanistan this morning. Many soldiers remain in harm’s way, and will be for years to come.”

* This story was corrected from the original.

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