When a Senator visits the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, when they dine they are typically joined by troops from their home state. Such as in the following pictures:

• Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka, D-Hawaii, eating lunch with U.S. military personnel in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in Iraq on Sunday, June 11, 2006:

• In Baghdad Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-TN, has lunch with three marines who were recent high school graduates from Savannah, Manchester and Tullahoma, Tennessee:

• Sen. Ken Salazar, D-CO, eating dinner with Ft. Carson soldiers in Iraq:

• Sen. George Allen, R-VA, having lunch with the 111th Field Artillery in Iraq:

• Sen. Bob Bennett, R-UT, dining with Utah soldiers in Iraq:

• Sen. Joe Biden, D-DE, talking with the troops after lunch:

• Sen. Sam Brownback, R-KS, and Kansas soldiers in Iraq:

• Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, talking with the troops over lunch:

• Sen. Norm Coleman, R-MN, surrounded by troops in Iraq:

• Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, in the chow tent in Iraq:

• Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, and Army soldiers having lunch:

• Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX, meeting with Ft. Hood soldiers in Iraq:

When a VIP such as a Senator visits the troops, it’s an honor for the Soldiers who are invited to meet with and especially to dine with them. Looking at the above photos, you see a bunch of soldiers who are proud and seemingly happy to meet with their Senator. Or, at the very least, they obviously didn’t refuse to meet with or have their picture taken with the Senator.

Like they did in this picture of John Kerry, D-MA:

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Yes, I know I’ve already written about this image of Kerry getting snubbed by the troops on his recent visit to Iraq…but I wanted to do a compare-and-contrast between images of how other Senators are welcomed by the troops.