What would it be like to meet the president? What about two? Whether or not you agree with the commander-in-chief on healthcare or international diplomacy policies, coming face to face with the most powerful single person on the planet would be enough to send anyone into an altered state.
Sgt. Harrison Kish, a 2004 PHS graduate can attest – he has escorted President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama around the world during his one year three month tour as Marine One crew chief.
“I was ecstatic,” Kish said about the discovery of his approval as one of the marine’s “elite four.”
A Marine One crew chief, often called the most photographed marine on duty, is the white-gloved, straight-faced enlistee standing at attention as the president boards the HMX-1 chopper, known as “Marine One” when the commander-in-chief is onboard.
The aircraft is called “Executive One” the remainder of the time.
“This was a position I had been working toward since I signed up in 2004,” Kish said.
Interestingly, however, the 23-year old told us there is no specific training to become crew chief on Marine One --- they are ultimately approved for the position by senior staff non-commissioned officers based on their “moral judgment and ability to do the job.”
Senior officers evaluate Marine crew chiefs working on aircraft other than the Marine One for these qualities. Only the best crew chiefs are selected from the pool of these Marines to compete on a number of knowledge based boards covering things such as aircraft systems knowledge, maturity and judgment questions.
Kish’s commanding officer Raymond L’Heureux, a Marine One pilot for three years, played a part in this selection process.
“First you start with a list and that list gets short very quickly. There is no wiggle room for error,” L’Heureux said of Marine One candidates. “They must not only display zeal to do the job but they must be meticulous and possess the capacity to handle the rigors the job requires.
“It was an absolute privilege and joy to work with Sgt. Kish. I never had to second guess him. He was spot on 100 percent of the time and he emboldened the crew concept when it was game day and we had to get our game face on...I’m a huge fan of that generation and he is the best this country has to offer.”
Major Jennifer Grieves, the Marine One pilot who recently appeared in national headlines as the first woman to fly an all female crew on Marine One, served as Marine One’s pilot for 14 months with Kish. The major returned similar glowing accolades for the PHS grad.
“I will always remember what an enormous sense of support Sgt. Kish lent to my crew
and how he pushed us all to perform at a higher level,” Grieves said in an e-mail. “We developed such a seamless professional relationship during our service together. I consistently knew what he was going to do next and he always knew exactly what I needed him to do before I asked for it. This kind of crew coordination is very rare and what makes Sgt Kish so special.”
As Grieves’ comment implies, the duties of Marine One crew chiefs, such as Kish, extends beyond standing at attention and donning spit-shined shoes. As a crew chief you are in charge of maintaining the HMX-1 aircraft and ensuring it is in sound mechanical condition for presidential escort, quite a responsibility for a man in his early 20’s.
The difficult part of the job, Kish said, was being on call 24 hours a day. “What was horrible and unexpected was the rate of movement. You really have to jump through hoops,” he said from Quantico, Va., where the sergeant is currently stationed. “Sometimes you don’t know until a day before you leave that you will be gone for a week. Having no set schedule is hard.”
Despite the exhausting rate of travel, Kish said criss-crossing the world under such honorable circumstances made the bloated scheduling well worth it.
During his tour, Kish has escorted Presidents Bush and Obama up and down the east coast and California, but he says his most memorable trip was traveling with President Obama to the 65th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France this past June.
“The only reason I ever wanted to go to France was to see the beaches of Normandy,” Kish said. “ To do it under such amazing circumstances, with the president, was amazing.”
Another of Kish’s notable flights was on January 20, 2009 --- Inauguration Day. Kish was aboard Marine One as it escorted President Bush from the White House for the last time.
Kish said the relationship between a Marine One crew chief and the president is mostly business, with interaction more or less limited to salutes and nods.
“Sometimes at Camp David you will get a little less formal and you’ll get some ‘How are you doings?’ and ‘Where are you froms?’ I served more under Bush’s term, but both men are very friendly and I hold them in very high regard,” he said. “It’s such an incredible honor.”
Surprisingly, Kish’s days at PHS’s campus weren’t spent in the ROTC or sports programs. He was a drama enthusiast and served as Drama Club President. “I wasn’t really involved in sports,” he said,” but I would like to thank my teachers, like the drama teacher, for positively influencing me.”
Kish also said his parents were highly influential instilling in him morality and a strong work ethic, the traits that helped him achieve the title of Marine One crew chief.
“I learned morality from my mother and father, who are both very upstanding citizens. I was raised right, and growing up in Pickens County helped, too," he said.
Kish moved to Pickens County in 6th grade and he says he is considering leaving the marines and returning home to take over his mother and father’s landscaping company.
“I’m not sure if I am going to stay in the Marine Corps,” Kish said, who is now working as a VH-3D crew chief performing quality assurance checks. If Kish does re-enlist he would like to serve as a Huey crew chief and door gunner.
“I love Pickens County,” said Kish, who moved here from a metropolitan area. “It’s quiet, it’s away from the city and the people are friendly. I consider it home.”
Kish’s final flight as a Marine One crew chief was on June 15, 2009. He landed on the south lawn of the White House alongside President Obama.
“I mentioned to President Obama that it was Sgt. Kish’s last lift,” Col. L’Heureux told us, “And as the president stepped off he gave him a hug.”
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| PHOTO BY PHOTO COURTESY OF KISH FAMILY. |
| Harrison Kish served as Marine One crew chief for one year and three months. |
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