Around 1986 I was involved in a top secret mission. It was during my last tour of duty in the United States Air Force. I had a fair amount of experience in the Lear 35 and was picked by my Ops officer to fly along with him. We flew into Vietnam to pick up an American who had been imprisoned there. We were accompanied by someone from the state department who had a bag of ransom money used to buy the man's freedom. It was quite the adventure. During my time in the air force I had several such encounters with interesting people of historical significance. As another example, I flew President Reagan's advisor and US Ambassador into China to discuss Reagan's historical negotiations with Gorbachev in Iceland. My second career in photography has also brought me a few opportunities to meet interesting and significant, if not controversial people. About three weeks prior to the 2022 mid term elections I was contacted by a member of Senator Mike Lee's campaign staff. Senator Lee wanted them to reach out to me and contract for photographic coverage of the campaign events leading up to and through election night. What made this fun and interesting was that I was allowed access that even the AP photographer didn't have. That allowed me to photograph on stage for instance, something I took advantage of. The actual election night was the most interesting. Mike invited me into his suite to capture the family awaiting the results and visitors who came in to talk to him. I photographed well into the night, not getting home until after one in the morning. Some of the highlights were his interviews with the press, intimate moments as his daughter and his wife helped him with his speech to those in attendance at the party, his reactions to a call from a politician who gave no support to his campaign, and a quick photo of us together. I've often thought I'd like to write a book of stories about an ordinary man, but one who has had some extraordinary opportunities touching pieces of history. Election night with Senator Mike Lee was certainly one of those. 

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