I met Senator McCain several times over the years in Arizona and Washington DC, in my work with the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

One time I specifically remember, Chairman Harrison Talgo and I were in Washington DC and were walking the halls of the Senate building. We saw Senator McCain’s office and Mr. Talgo suggested we go see the Senator, I said we probably needed an appointment.

Anyway, we went to his office and as I suspected, there were people waiting to see him, among those were four or five Admirals sitting there with their Class A dress uniforms. The secretary informed us that we needed an appointment.

As we turned to leave, the Senator enters his office and notices us. He says to us “Hey, good to see you guys, I’m glad you came to see me while you’re in town. Let’s visit in my office”. He then turned to the Admirals and asked, “Can you guys wait for me?” They had no choice but to say, “yes sir”. Senator McCain was the Chairman of the Armed Services committee at the time. So, we went into his office and we talked for about 10-15 minutes about Veterans Affairs and tribal issues. At the end of our meeting he says, “Let’s take a picture,” and calls a photographer in. A couple of weeks later he sent this picture.

Steve Titla