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Among those gathered Saturday to listen to Sen. John McCain in Iraq were Arizonans Maj. Cecil MacPherson, 34, and Sgt. Glenn Hawkins, 32, of the U.S. Army, who are serving there.

Army Sgt. Brad Owensby of Dudleyville — northeast of Tucson near Winkelman — also managed to squeeze in a few moments of face time with McCain afterward.

"I was surprised that he knew of the town where I was from," Owensby said in a telephone interview Saturday from Baghdad.

Each of the men had their personal reasons for going to see McCain, though Hawkins joked he was decidedly less successful in achieving his.

"I felt like Ralphie from 'The Christmas Story,' " he said, citing the 1983 film about a boy's longing for a Red Ryder BB gun.

"You know when he (Ralphie) finally gets to Santa and freezes up? There was this long line and I was thinking, 'Uh oh, I have to hurry up and say something.' Unfortunately, I just froze up."

Hawkins, excited to see McCain, found his voice long enough to squeeze out his hometown of Sierra Vista, however.

MacPherson, a soldier from Deer Valley whose wife is living in Tucson while he is in Iraq, had recently celebrated his 34th birthday and was looking forward to meeting McCain for a long overdue thank you.

Earlier, it had been McCain who had nominated the West Point graduate for admission to the military school.

When asked how McCain responded, MacPherson said: "He said he was glad he did it, then."

Only about a month into a yearlong tour, MacPherson expressed a degree of surprise at how his attitude had changed in the time he'd been in Iraq.

"I volunteered because I thought it was the right thing to do for the Army and for my country," he said. Now, it's to keep insurgents from killing Iraqi civilians. "They're working for the same mission — to keep their country secure."

All three men agreed with McCain's comments regarding the need to remain in Iraq long enough to ensure the nascent government's success.

"We could just pack up and leave, and leave the Iraqi people with a situation that would be pretty difficult to handle. Or we could take the time, transition and do it right," MacPherson said.

After 10 months training members of the Iraqi military force, Hawkins is due to return home soon. Despite the criticism the war has received, he remains hopeful about the situation in Iraq.

"I like to say I'm lucky enough because I've lived with the Iraqis. I've been around them more so than the Americans," he said. "It's going to take time, and things are going to get better, but we need to have patience. … I know that's hard to ask of them (the American public). But that's what we need."