This is Jared.
Jared’s never been to war before. But his father-in-law, a very busy man, sent Jared to the war to see how it’s going!
This is Joe. Joe is a Marine. Joe is the Marine in charge of all of America’s wars.
One day in March, Joe was going to a really important meeting in the White House, where Jared works for his father-in-law.
Jared took the last seat at the meeting table. But he offered it to Joe! Now they are friends.
One day, Joe had a question for Jared. “Would you like to see the war?” Joe asked.
“Golly, would I!” Jared said.
Jared went to college at Harvard and business school at NYU. He went to the same business school as retired general Ray Odierno’s son! Ray Odierno’s son was also an Army officer who lost his right arm and one of his soldiers in Iraq.
Jared never saw Iraq before; he was busy helping his dad buy a New York skyscraper with borrowed money. But now he’s going off to see the war!
As soon as Jared gets off the airplane in Iraq, lots of people walk with him everywhere.
It’s very hot — and very sunny.
Luckily, Jared has his sunglasses!
He also gets a special jacket to protect him from war things. Joe and his military people call the jacket “individual body armor.” Jared’s individual body armor is very small!
Jared’s individual body armor has “Kush” written on it.
On the ground, Joe has set up many meetings with many people for Jared.
Many people!
Jared mostly just listens. It’s very important to listen.
What’s that on the wall next to Jared? It’s a picture of the XVIII Airborne Corps dragon! The XVIII Airborne Corps has been to war in Iraq for a very long time. They even ran the war a few times, starting in 2005!
Also in 2005, Jared’s dad, Mr. Kushner, was sent to federal prison for tax fraud and campaign finance fraud, after Mr. Kushner “apologized to his sister for hiring a prostitute to seduce her husband, who was cooperating in a federal investigation against him, and then sending her a videotape of the encounter.”
Jared had to grow up really fast — just like the soldiers in the war!
But now Jared’s a grownup, and he runs his dad’s business. Some people say he runs his father-in-law’s new business, too!
It’s very hard work meeting lots of people and being friendly to all of them.
Sometimes they talk about war things that are new to Jared, and it can be hard to follow.
But he got a plate from one of the nice men!
It’s a very nice plate.
Best of all, he got to ride on a helicopter. It was ever so fun!
Soon, Jared has to go home. Joe and his service members talk about their time with Jared.
“He sure is nice,” one says.
“It’s nice to have nice friends!” Joe says.
“He’s not in the chain of command,” another says.
This is true. Usually Joe reports to the president, who is elected by the people, and the secretary of defense, who is selected by the president. But this president is Jared’s father-in-law, and his friend. He put Jared in charge of a lot of things.
This is a new way of doing things for Joe, but Joe thinks it’s very important in his job to be friends with this president’s friends. The success of Joe’s war and the lives of Joe’s troops depend a lot on his friendship with Jared!
Jared thanks everybody for the nice time he had at the war in Iraq.
Now all he has to do is go home, push one of his father-in-law’s other helpers out of the National Security Council, address the use of chemical weapons by the Iran and Russia-supported Syrian Assad regime, take care of ISIS and al Qaeda, run the new Office of American Innovation, broker peace in the Middle East, run all of the United States’ diplomatic relations with Canada, China, and Mexico, reform America’s criminal justice system, and solve the country’s opioid crisis, with help from the man who sent his dad to jail.
But Jared will always remember the time he went to visit the war. Maybe he’ll get lots of chances in the coming years to go again and again!
All photos are via the CJCS Flickr account; all love is owed to Buzzfeed’s latest children’s book.