Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone, who hails from Sacramento, will be Michelle Obama's date tonight at the President's final State of the Union address or he will be one of her invited guests, anyway. Stone was one of three friends aboard a Paris-bound train from Amsterdam last August who thwarted a terrorist attack by a single gunman of Moroccan descent, and he was subsequently involved in a brawl outside a Sacramento gay bar in October in which he was stabbed.
Stone was with two childhood friends on vacation while on leave from the military in August, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and Sacramento State student Anthony Sadler, when they together attacked the gunman who had already shot one individual, and was carrying an AK-47 rifle that he was not able to use. Stone was the most injured in the attack, getting sliced on the neck by a box-cutter.
It's unclear if Stone's other two hero pals were also invited by Mrs. Obama or not.
In the October incident, Stone later explained that he was out with a few friends, male and female, at Sacramento's Badlands on what's commonly known as "straight night" at the gay club, which is Wednesday. In the alcohol-fueled fight on the sidewalk, Stone said he thought he was trying to protect a woman who was getting roughed up by her boyfriend, but she fled the scene in the same car with the guy who stabbed Stone in the melee.
Stone tells the Associated Press that he's very excited to attend to the State of the Union, saying it'll be the highlight of his last year, topping the time he got to meet Kobe Bryant.
He says he plans to finish his college degree after completing his Air Force service, and may pursue a career in either medicine, federal law enforcement, or possibly politics. "It never has been a thought in my head before," he says of the politics idea, "but being around different politicians and meeting them and what they do, it's pretty interesting."
Previously: Video: Sacramento Man Who Helped Stop Gunman On French Train Stabbed Outside Bar