Retired Air Force major to join Sen. Sinema at State of the Union

PHOENIX – A Bronze Star recipient who lives in Scottsdale and works for Maricopa County Superior Court will be the guest of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema at Tuesday’s presidential State of the Union address.

It will be President Donald Trump’s second address to a joint session of Congress. He he will lay out his agenda for his third year in office.

Bryan Bouchard, who spent more then two decades in the Air Force, including at Luke Air Force Base, and reached the rank of major, sits on Sinema’s Veterans Advisory Council.

“Major Bouchard’s record of service is inspiring; he bravely fought for our country and now helps fellow Arizona veterans,” Sinema (D-Ariz.) said in statement.

Sinema, a freshman in Congress’ upper house, built much of her reputation in the statehouse and as a U.S. representative as an advocate for veterans.

Bouchard served several tours with special operations task forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and areas in trouble in the U.S. He deployed to New Orleans Airport in 2005 to help after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

“It is an honor to be Senator Sinema’s guest to this year’s State of the Union address,” Bouchard said in the statement, “… and I am proud to work alongside her.”

Bouchard, who is media relations director for the the courts, retired from the military in 2017.

He earned his Bronze Star in 2009 as a first lieutenant while he was serving at Luke.

Last year, Arizona’s federal lawmakers brought guests as varied as the mother of a child who was abducted and killed on tribal land, an election official, a border county sheriff and the DACA-recipient adult son of undocumented immigrants.

Programming note: KTAR News 92.3 FM will cover President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address live starting at 7 p.m. Arizona time on Tuesday. 

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