PREFACE:
The following occurred on the final night of the 2013 Fourth Estate Summit.
And yes, it’s a true story.
I was assigned to the actor/activist/speaker Don Cheadle. By “assigned” I mean I was put in charge of keeping him in my line of sight at all times to ensure he got onstage at the appropriate time. I was also in charge of directing him to the restroom if he asked me where it was, or saying yes if he asked me to write him a screenplay (yes yes, obviously, yes). We were backstage in the Green Room and I wanted to honor his personal space (even though I clearly wanted to sit one inch from his face and ask him about Brad Pitt and George Clooney on the set of Ocean’s Eleven). I refrained and meandered over and started talking to a Secret Service Agent.
There were two Secret Service Agents who had accompanied Ambassador Power to the Summit (1. Ambassador Power being Samantha Power, the newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations who gave a speech at the Summit, and 2. How “Secret” are they? I don’t know. Just in case, I’ll refer to this particular agent as “Agent Smith”). Agent Smith and I struck up a conversation for about 20 minutes (topics: Air Force One, the cool places he’s visited, and if he ever gets to call in sick) when I looked up and realized Don Cheadle was no longer in the Green Room. Well heck, I lost Don Cheadle. I HAD ONE JOB.
I told Agent Smith, “Whatever you do, don’t hire me at the Secret Service Agency because I would be terrible.” Long story short – I found Don Cheadle. He was backstage getting his mic put on for his speech. I was able to make sure he didn’t miss his entrance, he presented the Peace Award to phenomenal human being Kunangbangate Belaha, and when Don went to leave for the evening, I told him I would walk him to his car since I am highly responsible and in charge of his safety.
My assignment Mr. Don Cheadle onstage at the Summit
We headed out the back door of Royce Hall and passed the Agents with Ambassador Power as they were getting into their Batmobile. As I walked by, Agent Smith reached out to shake my hand and, as he did, he slipped me something. No, it wasn’t his phone number (get your head out of the gutter!) He did it so slyly that I took his cue and just slid whatever it was into my pocket.
Intrigued, I told Don Cheadle on the way to his car, “Don Cheadle, the Secret Service Agent just slipped me something when he shook my hand.” Don Cheadle stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at me and said, “Krista, did you just get coined?!?!” He was flabbergasted. So then I was flabbergasted. Coined? What the heck does that mean? I reached into my pocket and pulled out a coin slightly bigger than a silver dollar.
Don Cheadle proceeded to flip out. So then I proceeded to flip out. We were just two people in a parking structure flipping out.
He explained to me that it’s called a Challenge Coin and a huge honor to receive one. They’re rare and usually given out by military officials for outstanding service or by unit commanders in recognition of special achievement. Most are given through a secret handshake. I kid you not. I was super excited even though none of it really made sense to me, so I thanked Don Cheadle for the history lesson and proceeded back inside Royce Hall. I informed the 1% of IC staff that would know what a Challenge Coin was about what happened, and it warranted the same response all around: “Krista, you got coined?!?!”
Yup, that’s me with my coin (and my co-worker Carl being really excited for me).
Since then I have investigated fully into the history of the Challenge Coin and the secret handshake, and you can too by reading about it HERE and HERE. I was (and still am) completely perplexed by what I did to warrant the honor of being coined. I can only assume that I impressed Agent Smith with my tracking skills when I found the lost Don Cheadle, or perhaps my stellar ability to serve and protect civilians was obvious and deserved accolades.
The moral of this story: I got coined, I am pretty important, and I’m basically a full-fledged Secret Service Agent. As such, I will now only respond to people if they address me by my new title – Secret Agent Krista Morgan.
Over and out.
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