Vet meets with Barack Obama over pizza

As an Army bomb disposal specialist, Foxboro native Brian Sullivan swept sites ahead of presidential visits by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
But he never got to shake his commander in chief’s hand — or share a pizza with the boss — before yesterday.
“It’s an amazing experience to be able to meet the president of the United States,” said still-giddy Sullivan. “Not everybody gets to do it.
Lunch with President Obama and the first lady was not on Sullivan’s agenda yesterday morning, when he arrived at a hotel in Hampton, Va., at the behest of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
The 41-year-old married father of five, who now lives in Virginia, was one of four veterans who sat down with the Obamas at a Virginia pizza joint after the duo spoke about jobs for military vets at Joint Base Langley-Eustis.
“I would see the president when I was in the Army, but I wouldn’t shake his hand, and today I actually got to shake his hand,” said Sullivan, who did two tours in Afghanistan and was discharged in 2006 after injuring his knee.
Sullivan, who works as a manager for defense contractor BAE Systems, said he got a call Friday night from the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, asking him to take part in a round table discussion with senior White House staffers.



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