Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Leeks Date to the Ball: Michelle Obama
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Evan Vucci/AP
ABC News’ Katti Gray reports:
Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Leeks was standing near the matchbox cars when First Lady Michelle Obama, helping sort Christmas giveaways to needy kids, moved right next to him.
Seeing an opening, “he struck.”
“She said, ‘yes.’ She’d love to go with me,” said Leeks, who is now awaiting White House confirmation that the president’s wife, indeed, will be his date for the Marine Corps Ball in Nov. 2012 .
“The reason she’s checking with her husband is to make sure that week is clear,” said Leeks, whose fiance, another marine, is stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
Within the next 45 days, he heads for Afghanistan where he’ll be assigned to mortuary affairs, the unit he checked off as his first preference when he enlisted in March 2010.
“We process remains from fallen soldiers,” Leeks said. “We’re the last line from the fallen soldier to their family. Our job is to bring them back. Not too many people can do this.”
Asking the first lady to the ball–she had stopped in to spotlight the Marines 65-year-old “Toys for Tots” project–was its own kind of daring.
Afterward, “a few people asked me, ‘Did you just ask your boss’s boss’s boss’s wife out?’”
Leeks said his request is a “thank you” for Michelle Obama’s personal outreach to military families.
“I knew how supportive the first lady is of the family structure, in general, and especially military families,” Leek told ABCNews.com by phone, from his parents’ home in Frederick, Md.
For his first Marines ball, he was date-less.
The two women he asked declined.
“I think one of them said she thought she’d have to work. The next young lady I asked just told me, ‘no’ without further explanation,” he said.
When he extended the same invitation to the president’s wife, she looked kind of shocked at first.
“Like, was I really asking her? She said, ‘Really?’ And I said, ‘Yes, ma’am’ I’m greatly honored.’”
Earlier this year, other marines also invited celebrities to a Marine Corps Ball, including Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake who both attended events in November.
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Her husband will be unemployed by then anyway…
Posted by: whining liberal | December 18, 2011, 11:55 am 11:55 am
@ Whining Liberal and Freedom_Fighter – you guys are really ugly inside if that is all you have to say. Obviously your mamas didn’t teach you right. If you can’t say something nice. Don’t say anything at all. I’m sure you see yourselves as patriots, but here you are attacking a service member and our First Lady in a small minded hypocritical manner. Grow up.
Posted by: armendj | December 18, 2011, 12:08 pm 12:08 pm
ABC MONITOR, Freedom_Fighter’s comment at 11:59 is extremely racist.
Posted by: Librarian53 | December 18, 2011, 12:18 pm 12:18 pm
POSTED BY: ARMENDJ | DECEMBER 18, 2011, 12:08 PM===Waaah!!!!, Waaaahhh!!!!
Posted by: whining liberal | December 18, 2011, 12:18 pm 12:18 pm
POSTED BY: ARMENDJ | DECEMBER 18, 2011, 12:08 PM ===If you don’t like the postings feel free to leave at anytime…you will not be missed.
Posted by: whining liberal | December 18, 2011, 12:20 pm 12:20 pm
Whining LIberal, shouldn’t your name be whining Republican?
Posted by: Librarian53 | December 18, 2011, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
Whining LIberal, shouldn’t your name be whining Republican?
POSTED BY: LIBRARIAN53 | DECEMBER 18, 2011,===Since you are a dimocrat shouldn’t your name be Jackass?
Posted by: whining liberal | December 18, 2011, 12:33 pm 12:33 pm
Whining Liberal/aka whining Republican,
I guess that you didn’t understand my comment. If you are comments are obviously made by someone who is a right-leaning person, to have your tag name include Democrat just doesn’t make sense.
And if your comments actually had facts instead of just frankly, a lot of whining, you would be doing the Republican party some good, instead of perpetuating the impression that the facts don’t matter, but only your personal contempt for our President does.
Posted by: Librarian53 | December 18, 2011, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
I have to smile when I think of the courage it took to ask the First Lady to a ball. It just goes to show how approachable our First Lady is to our troops. She, as well as Jill Biden, have worked to bring the sacrifices and needs of the military and their families to our attention.
Posted by: Librarian53 | December 18, 2011, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
Whining liberal, but it doesn’t make sense. A ‘whining’ liberal wouldn’t be saying those things. That’s not irony or sarcasm, it just doesn’t add up.
Posted by: Librarian53 | December 18, 2011, 1:14 pm 1:14 pm
LEEKS??????????
Posted by: amorelle | December 18, 2011, 2:00 pm 2:00 pm
whining liberal: Did you not get asked to the prom? Or did you get turned down? Must be one of the two.
Posted by: howdymo1 | December 18, 2011, 2:21 pm 2:21 pm
How very gracious of the First Lady and one brave marine!
Posted by: Central Park West | December 18, 2011, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm
Since when is it okay for a married woman to go on a date with another guy???? This is just a way to get into the news.
Posted by: jp4ga | December 18, 2011, 4:36 pm 4:36 pm
This is so PATHETIC. She’s married! Do they need PUBLICITY this badly? Cpl Leeks should have kept asking single women. I find this preposterous and Laughable.
Posted by: SableDog | December 18, 2011, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
This is so disrespectful. If I was in his Chain of Command, I would be putting a stop to this immediantly. Disgraceful and preposterous, indeed.
Posted by: Meandyou725 | December 18, 2011, 5:32 pm 5:32 pm
No it is not disrespectful! Michelle prides herself on being reachable and not someone up in a lofty tower. She is one of the best First Ladies ever!!! The young fellow just wanted to show how much he thinks of her and hey if her husband agrees, why not? It is just another way to show great support for our courageous military men and women. Who could deny them??
Posted by: Retired | December 18, 2011, 5:52 pm 5:52 pm
I really don’t think there is any intention to engage in a roll in the hay here. You all are being silly over something trivial. Minds seem to be in the gutter and noses are in the air here. The man asked two girls to attend the ball and was turned down both times so he asked the First Lady. Meandyou725: FYI the chain of command stops at this particular ladys husband.
Posted by: howdymo1 | December 18, 2011, 6:10 pm 6:10 pm
Figures, hater REPUBS have to take it out on a Marine, just because he asked the first lady. They just cant leave it alone. Taken note people, take note…., not even the military is immune if they contradict the right wing repubs….
Posted by: Medallion | December 18, 2011, 6:54 pm 6:54 pm
I wonder how much this will cost us tax payers ?
Posted by: ? | December 18, 2011, 7:28 pm 7:28 pm
Is she single now? Since when do men ask married women out for dates? Weird…………..
Posted by: dgh629 | December 18, 2011, 8:12 pm 8:12 pm
I thought that Marines were considered “an officer/gentle”…how disgusting for a Marine or any male to request the President of the United States’ wife to accept an invitation to commit adultery; not to mention the disrespect for his intended fiance’; how sad…was he wounded while serving his tour of duty?????????
Posted by: Gloria Foreman | December 18, 2011, 9:30 pm 9:30 pm
Aaron Leeks takes the idiot of the year award, embarrassing the First Lady and disrespecting the President whom happens to be his commander and chief. How dare you do such a thing. He need to be dressed down and stripped of his rank. If two other ladies turned him down, hello! Maggies drawers goes up. (Marine Corps term). I am a former Marine L/CPL.
Posted by: Odis Johnson | December 19, 2011, 4:58 am 4:58 am
@dgh629 : hello, do you have a clue? Inviting a lady to accompany you to a formal ball is NOT an invitation to “adultery”. In proper society (which I suspect is outside your experience), an invitation to a dance is no more or less than a social encounter. It is comparable to asking a business acquaintance to lunch. There a re social niceties to be observed, and the opportunity for “network” introductions, but nothing remotely approaching “adultery”. This is the Marine Ball, for crying out loud, not a fraternity party!
There are members of the Baltimore Cotillion who are laughing their socks off at your ignorance. An invitation to the Marine Ball has less sexual connotation than riding in the Rose Parade float, or a double date at the ice skating rink.
This Cpl. is not out of line, but he does have a good dose of courage. I hope the First Lady is able & willing to accompany him to the Ball, will dance one dance with him, and spend the evening mingling with the troops. Then she goes home with the top-ranking commander (her hubbie). Everyone goes home a winner.
Posted by: Jim | December 19, 2011, 8:26 pm 8:26 pm
If something happens and Leeks’ fiance is able to make it home in order to accompany him to the ball, will he cancel (if the President approves) his date with the First Lady? I think it was disrespectful for Leeks to ask a married woman on a date, period.
Posted by: NavyGirl | December 20, 2011, 11:53 pm 11:53 pm