So were these soldiers hand picked?

[jodymarie aimee]

I can't believe he has so many fans over there...he should have told them his bonespur story...

[spanone]

1. I'm sure the audience was screened....it's all a 'reality' show to don.

[guillaumeb]

2. They are in uniform and under orders.

And Trump knows this. Any outburst would undoubtedly have resulted in discipline.

[CatWoman]

4. Exactly

[RKP5637]

6. Definitely a captive audience under strict discipline. n/t

[Ohiogal]

3. I was wondering the same thing.

Or do they have orders that they have to attend his meet and greet?

I wonder if he told them about his "big scary ordeal" on the plane getting there.

[CRK7376]

5. Not hand picked

most likely units nearby were tasked to provide "X" number of personnel to see/visit with CiC and Be Best.....at least that is how we were tasked to see VP Cheney when I was in Korea.

[Quemado]

7. I was in the Army

All soldiers would have been ordered in advance to behave in such a way as to be sympathetic and supportive to Trump.

[Hoyt]

8. Not surprising. Active military tended to vote for trump, as did veterans.

https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/results/exit-polls/national/president

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2016/09/21/this-poll-of-the-u-s-military-has-gary-johnson-tied-with-donald-trump-in-the-race-for-president/

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2016/05/09/military-times-survey-troops-prefer-trump-to-clinton-by-a-huge-margin/

[AJT]

12. This.

[jmowreader]

9. Self-selected is more likely

President Clinton came to Fort Drum when I was stationed there to thank us for our service in Somalia and Florida. (10th Mountain sent more troops to the Hurricane Andrew relief effort than any other unit.) We were all given the choice to go or not to. A lot of Republican-leaning troops went because when the hell ELSE are you going to get to see the commander-in-chief in person?

For the same reason, the troops in Iraq would have gone to see Hillary if she would have won the Electoral College. And they would have been civil at least in public, because that's what soldiers do to their leaders.

[qazplm135]

10. I doubt it was mandatory to attend

but it was probably highly encouraged, which means non-attendance would have been frowned upon.

Nevertheless, I suspect those Soldiers who didn't really want to be there, weren't, and those that did, were.

So it's not really a full sample size.

There are plenty of us who think he's an idiot, particularly in the Officer ranks.

[IcyPeas]

11. I was hoping for a plaid shirt guy to get in some pictures. nt