Michel Lemaire is the most unique, intelligent, and free thinker you could ever hope to meet.  I met Michel in downtown Ar Ramadi, Iraq in the spring of 2005.  To fully understand the relationship he and I share, I must explain how we came to become friends. 

At that time, the Anbar Provence was so dangerous that many contractors refused to service the coalition servicemembers bases.  When I say Anbar, I mean we lived with no life support of any kind from Fallujah all the way to the Syrian border.
 
Michel was born in Paris to a Lebanese mother and a French Father.  He grew up speaking Arabic and French.  As he progressed thru school, he learned German, Spanish and Portuguese.  In 2003, he left his PhD program in France to join the coalition support effort in Iraq with a large contracting firm.  After four long months of working for average pay and no excitement, Michel realized that there was millions of dollars changing hands every day and the quality of work that was being conducted was less than stellar.
 
In the beginning of 2004, Michel hired the help of several local nationals and began bidding on contracts providing services to the Marines and Soldiers based in areas that were deemed too dangerous for the BIG contracting firms.
 
Now that the region has stabilized and turned over to Iraqi control, he’s settled down here in Thailand and now lives on Phuket Island.  I’ve never met a civilian that cared more about the welfare and morale of the servicemembers he considers great friends.  He knows the lingo, he loves to share stories, and he risked his life on a daily basis in some of the most war-torn areas of Iraq just to make our live a little better.  I’ve been in convoys where my up-armored HMMWV was receiving high volumes of small arms fire and Michel was in the thick of it, driving a pump truck to empty a port-a-potty at an OP where Soldiers and Marines were rotating over-watch duties.
 
I’ve been lucky enough to have reunited with Michel here, in Thailand and he’s the same as ever.  He misses being with Soldiers and Marines, and he misses the thrill of the fight.  He doesn’t miss the danger, but he’s the kind of guy who can’t sit still for long. 

Michel is in Chiang Mai, visiting me during the ramp up to the Cobra Gold Exercise and he loves every minute of it.  He gets to interact with Marines and Soldiers, talk the lingo, and laugh with some people who understand (maybe not to the same degree) what he’s been through. 
It’s a special thing when you meet someone who cares about Soldiers the way he does.  He would do anything for you and he continues to do so today.
 
After the Cobra Gold 09 opening ceremonies, Michel will be flying to the United States for the first time in his life.  The best part of this story is that he’s not paying a dime for a hotel.  He’s staying (for two months) with friends he’s made during his time in Iraq.  He’s touched so many lives in that short time that people are willing to open their homes to him. 

If anyone deserves the chance to visit the United States, It’s Michel.
 
The world is a small place, and when you get to visit with a good friend, six thousand miles from home, it makes it seem that much smaller. 

CPT Dave E