Saving the President....Reward?

Its a cliche plot that the President gets kidnapped, shot, or put in danger.

If some Average Joe/Jane happened to save the President, what kind of reward are we talking about?

Money? Schoolarship? Excemption from taxes for life?

I would say the honour of being a bad enough Dude/Dudette to rescue the President would be enough.

You really have to be careful about that sort of thing. You give a million dollars to an ordinary Jane/Joe who saves the President, what are you going to say to the $60,000-a-year Secret Service agent who keeps the President out of harm's way all year?

Possibly a civilian medal of some sort; maybe a few photo ops and future connections they could tap. Bragging rights for sure.

I'll settle for that armored limo, insurance paid up front, when they have to replace it with a more advanced model.

"Hello, my fellow Americans. My name is Barack Obama, and I'm here to pimp your ride."

"We have an opening as the President's bodyguard. Interested?"

Civilian Medal should be enough. Maybe for added fun tell him afterwards "I didn't even vote for you!"

Alternately: Give the man an officer's commission. Save the president? Congrats you've just been made a Colonel in instant retirement. Monthly pensions check's in the post. (Maybe with choosing the service. Ex-Soldiers get their original service, pure civilians get into the Coast Guard?)

as for money: Write a book, make a deal the TV rights, live of the royalties.

edited 8th Aug '12 4:21:00 PM by 3of4

I'd say that a lifelong officer's pension (or one for their widow and children, as appropriate) is probably not unreasonable, along with a civilian medal.

@Starship Maxima: For a Secret Service agent (or any soldier in the U.S. Army, or in any NATO military), saving the President's life is their job. That's why the Secret Service agents get their government paycheck: because when the time comes, they're there to catch the bullet for the President. If they do exceptionally well in the charge, that's worth a medal, of course.

For a civilian, it's above and beyond the call of duty and something worth rewarding.

A Medal that says I was a bad enough dude to save the president.

Seriously, probably just a medal & you'd probably get thanked on television. Also, the president of the most powerful country in the world would owe you one...

And having saved the president would open a lot of doors.

But what do you give to the president who's bad enough to save the dudes?

Another term.

Nothing. We elected him to do that. Besides, all he'll do is sell the rights to some studio to make a movie with Harrison Ford anyway.

Just a medal, political connections, and photo-ops as said above... There wouldn't be any money from the government, but there definitely would be some from advertising deals.

Of course, whether this happens immediately depends, ultimately, on how the President was saved... If you jumped in front of a bullet that Secret Service missed, the news would be congratulating you immediately.

If you grabbed the gun from a sniper, or disarmed a bomb, and weren't shot by a government agent because they thought you were the sniper/bomber, you can expect to not see the light of day for about a week...

Anyone else thought about All-American Girl by Meg Cabot where the heroine accidentally saves the President when seeing this thread? She becomes an instant celebrity.

edited 12th Aug '12 3:01:45 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

A cut of the film rights?

Well, if the President is very well-liked, you can expect INSTANT FAME. If he isn't, then you can expect INSTANT HATE.

Unless the president is a full-on nazi, I doubt anyone will hate you for saving him, outside of crazies.

Indeed. If someone had miraculously saved Bush Jr. from an assassin, I'd be applauding the guy. Saving the President is just an awesome thing to do.

Hmm... how about a solid gold statue of the President?

Harrumph. All these Bad Dudes references and no one suggested the opportunity to share a meal with him, burgers or otherwise?

No one specified whose President we're talking about.

What if you saved the President of Syria?

If we're talking foreign heads of state, I'd try to save Prime Minister Harper, cause Canada and the US are, like, the original Back-to-Back Badasses.

I wouldn't take a bullet for him though.

edited 10th Aug '12 12:09:18 PM by TheStarshipMaxima

Stephen Harper? You can let the bad guys shoot him in the leg once. Or twice.

Harper? Nahnahnahnah. If you do that, Canada and Europe will hate your guts for the rest of your life.

Also, Harper is head of Government. The Queen is head of State.

edited 10th Aug '12 12:25:20 PM by Inhopelessguy

Wait, what? I thought Canada's been independent of England since like, 1801?