With Rear Admiral Michael Giorgione, US Navy[Ret.]
By Gary Keehner & Bob Poulsen
The fortunate 45 Bros who attended the May 31stluncheon at the San Diego Yacht Club were back in the familiar, former SAE luncheon room, the Staff Commodore Room. They were highly entertained and got a behind the scenes glimpse of the secretive Camp David, the presidential retreat. This very exclusive “campground” in the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland close to the White House was revealed to us by Admiral Giorgione as he discussed his recently released book, “Inside Camp David: The Private World of the Presidential Retreat”. Admiral Giorgione was the Camp David commanding officer from 1999 to 2001 which gave him a unique opportunity to serve two presidents, Clinton and George W. Bush. The power point pictures he showed us were very insightful as most had never been published and gave us a unique perspective.
Admiral Giorgione was very willing to share appropriate knowledge and experiences with us and after his talk, signed with personal messages, both new books and ones we brought with us. He really enjoyed himself and told us “ Thank You for introducing me to SAE” which we take as a supreme compliment. We were pleased to also have two representatives from each chapter at the luncheon…great to see actives’ involvement.
