Yesterday I had an inadvertent brush with greatness. An older, important-looking, guy comes over and asks for something. I help him out by getting him in touch with the folks who can provide what he needs. I ask for his name and he says "Ed Brown".

Now, even among gun owners, not everyone would recognize that name. Me though....I have long admired Ed Brown's custom 1911 pistols. So I sorta laugh and say "THE Ed Brown?" He laughs and replies "1911 forever".

At this point I think my brain goes into a death spiral of "Could it be him? Well, maybe a gunsmith would have close ties with the National Guard. But surely he'd be too busy with a company and not go to conferences" etc etc.

So after a lot of "No way! Yes, way! You're pulling my leg! No, I'm really Ed Brown!" I finally give in to the fantasy that I am indeed shaking hands with THE Ed Brown. He even offers to have a picture taken with me.....



After many "thank you"s and "it's an honor", he says he'll see me tomorrow.

I go home, tell a friend of mine I either met an artist or made a colossal fool of myself. I'm still not 100% convinced it's THE Ed Brown. I can't find pics on the internet and I'm telling myself the video on the Ed Brown Products website is old, etc. etc.

Well, this morning I get my answer. I look him up on the attendee roster (I was registering people in) and he's from Alabama, not Missouri. When he shows up we're both laughing immediately. I'm like "Good morning sir, you got me good!". He says "SFC Cowan, I'm glad to see you. I have something for you!" I reply "Well thank you sir, very much. But it's not a pistol is it?"

Nope, no pistol, but I did get a pretty snazzy coin (and that's from a guy who's really not into the whole coin thing).




I DID meet THE Ed Brown. Just THE Chief Master Sergeant of the Air National Guard Ed Brown. And I have to say....he seems like a great guy. He said he does get that now and then, people thinking he's the other Ed Brown. He apologized for pulling my leg, but I assured him if I had been in his shoes, I'd have done the same thing. LOL Well, maybe not, he is THE Chief Master Sergeant of the ANG after all.

Could have been Moonbeam!

Not so bad.

Thanks for sharing the story.

Excellent story!!!

RMD

That’s a funny story, meeting the master chief of the ANG and getting his coin is cooler IMHO.

very cool story.
Put a smile on my face.

Well, the real Ed Brown did stand up.

Ed Brown is a lot younger looking than you and your new name ought to be "Cotton Top".