Next stop for general: Letterman show

Gen. Frank Grass, chief of the National Guard Bureau, has been in and out of Perryville, Missouri, in conjunction with the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

One of his next stops is New York for a Monday appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman."

If everything works out, Grass, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will recognize Master Sgt. Michael Sears, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist from the 177th Fighter Wing in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sears is set to receive the Silver Star on June 28 for saving the life of a soldier in the Polish military. Grass will be part of the ceremony recognizing Sears for his bravery in combat.

Sears and his wife, Jennifer, along with 10 new National Guard recruits, are expected to be in the audience. Grass and Letterman plan to meet Sears and the recruits after the show.

Before his trip to the Big Apple, Grass spoke at a Perryville ceremony that was part of a visit by the traveling version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

"Anytime we can salute our veterans, we need to do that," he said.

Grass, an Arnold, Missouri, native, said he and his wife, Patricia, have two daughters and five grandchildren who live in Columbia, Missouri, plus relatives from Jackson to St. Louis he's heard from since his local appearance was announced.

Grass enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard in 1969 and rose through the ranks to Joint Chiefs in 2012.

"It [the National Guard] is so much like a family when you get in, because you have your association with your state and the governor, but you also have your association with your service," Grass said in a phone interview Friday. "... It's all about the people, the friends you make, the training that you get. It's offering me opportunities that I would never have gotten as a child growing up in Arnold.

"I was kind of just an average child in high school. The Guard encouraged me to get a degree and it really set me on a path to get me in a job like this."

Mike Lundy, event coordinator for The Wall that Heals, has said local veterans Mike Phillips and Dean Hotop, who served under Grass, were instrumental in bringing him to Perryville. Phillips said he intended to get salute cannons the Guard had but found he couldn't without a dignitary attending, so he contacted Grass, with whom he's kept in touch over the years.

"I ran into the chief at this year's state fair, and it's always like old-home week," Phillips said. "He's just such a selfless service guy."

In his capacity as chief of the National Guard Bureau, Grass serves as a military adviser to the president, secretary of defense, National Security Council and is the Department of Defense's official channel of communication to the Governors and State Adjutants General on all National Guard matters. He is responsible for ensuring the 470,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel are accessible, capable and ready to protect the homeland and to provide combat resources to the Army and Air Force, according to the Department of Defense.

Many National Guard soldiers have been deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan. There are still more than 11,000 mobilized in 11 countries, Grass said.

"I try to do two visits overseas a year," he said. "The last one was in March, and I got to see the 1438th Company out of Macon, Missouri, in Afghanistan. I think they're back home now."

Asked Friday whether the U.S. was going to send troops back to Iraq, Grass said he was not in a position to comment.

"That's a decision the president has to make. I know that he just made the announcement about some advisers," he said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639