Last August, Capt. Fred Cannan was sitting in the Iraqi desert, wearing 35 pounds of gear and scarfing down meals-ready-to-eat in 125-degree weather. But on November 8, he and his comrades stood under a tent in Naples, FL, sipping Sam Adams and feeding carrots to a giraffe named Tweet.
The lunar-eclipsed evening, coordinated by Cannan and fellow Naples native Donovan Smith, was part of a reunion for Task Force 3-15, an elite Army infantry unit that helped topple the Iraqi regime (and spent three months living in Saddam's palace on the Tigris). More than 200 fighters and family members came to the Gulf Coast town for four days of golf outings, beach excursions, and pub crawls, which culminated in the Saturday-night soiree at NGALA (pronounced "nYA-la"), an upscale safari-themed meeting facility.
"Donovan approached me a few months back and said, 'I want to give you [soldiers] something corporate America gets to experience but you don't,' " says Cannan of his grade-school buddy, who began building NGALA three years ago with his wife Tammy. "Naturally, I didn't say no." At once, Smith and Cannan, now COO of teambuilding company Odyssey Experiences, set to work mounting a night to remember for 130 soldiers and spouses (no kids allowed) who, after interacting with Lexus the leopard and other exotic creatures, enjoyed prime rib and salmon as African drummers and stilt-walkers performed.
The duo's biggest headache? Finding a fill-in for keynote Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who dropped out on five days' notice. Luckily McCaffrey's colleague Gen. Raymond Barrett stepped in and did his best General Patton impression for over an hour (he was only slated for 20 minutes). "It's hard to tell a two-star general to stop [talking]," notes Cannan. "But once he finished and we screened the video tribute, there wasn't a dry eye in the room." Hooah!