A tale of war, of passports and good constituent service

While most of us have viewed the war with Iran on television from the comfort of our home, to Shelly Corgel in Cobb County, it has been upclose- and-personal. Her daughter, Leah, has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for the past 10 years. For security reasons, I have agreed not to get into the details of her work. Suffice it to say it is in a dangerous part of the world.

The UAE, along with other Arab countries, had come under attack from missiles and drones being launched by Iran, resulting in injuries and fires and damage to industrial sites. It was a dangerous place to be.

Ms. Corgel told me, “When I saw the headline that the U.S. and Israel had attacked Iran, I immediately contacted Leah. She was very frightened and distraught. Not only was she terribly afraid because of not knowing exactly what was happening, she was hearing extremely loud explosions, which it turned out were missiles being shot down by the UAE defense system.” (According to reports, the UAE was hit by some 2,300 drones and over 500 missiles and their defense systems had intercepted 90% of them.)

As a result of what was happening, Leah Corgel was being told to shelter in place by the UAE government. If she chose to evacuate, she would have to go alone. Because of the nature of his work, her husband could not leave. That brought up a problem. No passport.

According to Leah, “I sent my passport for renewal on February 17, which was about two weeks before the conflict started. While I was not planning to return to the U.S., I was very frightened by the initial and confusing ‘Depart Now’ orders from the State Department and not having a travel document in hand and no way to get out.”

Shelly Corgel said, “My fear was that if she didn’t get out soon, the whole Middle East might erupt into war and then she wouldn’t be able to leave. She had several dealings with the US authorities there, but by Tuesday, March 3, there was still no passport.”

One option was to get an Emergency Passport which would allow her to get out of the country, but then she would not be able to get back in the UAE. Also, she was not sure which countries would allow her entry with that kind of passport.

In desperation, Shelly Corgel called Sen. Jon Ossoff ’s offices. A friend who had hosted fund raisers for Jon Ossoff gave her his cell phone number. She called that number (A worried mom has no shame when it comes to her children, she told me) and left a message. After reminding him that they had met previously and had talked at length about her daughter living in Abu Dhabi, she got to the issue at hand: Her daughter desperately needed a passport, and they were following every avenue they could to get it.

Ms. Corgel said within 2 hours of calling Ossoff ’s office, “I got a call from his constituent services representative to follow up on Leah and the passport situation and was told that Senator Ossoff personally instructed them to check in with her about Leah if anything else was needed.” Leah now has her passport.

Shelly Corgel says, “Thinking about this now brings back so many emotions about that time and the situation. I was so touched by Senator Ossoff ’s compassion and his staff’s personal response to our situation that I cried.”

A number of former members of Congress from both sides of the aisle read this column on a regular basis and I suspect they would be the first to tell you that while their political positions got them elected, it was good constituent service that kept them there. I know of several who were so busy creating a national profile for themselves, they were not responsive to their constituents’ needs and lost reelection. We may forgive you on how you voted on a political issue. We won’t forget if you failed to help us in our time of need. First things first.

As of this writing, Leah Corgel says things have been calm in Abu Dhabi since the ceasefire and that life is relatively back to normal. “It’s important for your readers to know that their representative or senator can help in these situations,” she says and adds, “That said, let’s hope they are never in this situation.”

You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.