PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) – Master Sgt. Jake Negrotti got more than an update on his wife and children when he called home from Iraq Thursday: He got a message from the president.

Speaking at Pease Air National Guard Base, President Bush said he is confident America will win the war on terrorism because of people like Negrotti, a National Guardsman from Plaistow who has volunteered for three overseas deployments since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Next time you talk to Jake,” Bush told Negrotti’s wife in the audience. “You tell him his president appreciates his service, and his country is grateful.”

Donna Negrotti did just that later in the day when her husband called her at work. “You’re kidding!” he responded.

Negrotti, of Plaistow, has been deployed to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where he serves as an airport manager in Baghdad. His wife described him as “a guy who likes to talk to everyone and do anything he can for anybody.”

“That’s why I’m not surprised he went out of his way to help,” she said.

Negrotti initially turned down the invitation to Bush’s rally because she had to work, but was persuaded after learning her husband might be mentioned in the speech.

“This has been awesome,” she said. “I’m still in shock that I got to meet him and shake his hand. It was a real proud moment.”

Bush used Claremont’s Crown Point Cabinetry as an example of how his tax cuts have helped not only small businesses but the local and national economy.

The company is investing $800,000 in tooling because of a tax law change that let it recoup $100,000 through depreciation. The investment will increase employment in New Hampshire and elsewhere, Bush said.

“He’s going to buy a sander made in Minnesota, spray booths made just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, a forklift made in Iowa, more than a dozen other pieces of equipment – nearly all of them made here in America,” Bush said.

Crown Point owner and president Brian Stowell said he strongly agrees with Bush that business tax cuts benefit all Americans.

“A lot of people think that if it’s good for business, it’s bad for the people. I couldn’t disagree more. The world isn’t made up of Enrons,” Stowell said.

Kathy Rice of Nashua and Robert Perkins of Manchester helped Bush emphasize his point that America’s true strength lies in the “hearts and souls of fellow citizens who are willing to help people.”

At the New Hampshire National Guard Family Program, Rice supports families with everyday tasks – paying bills, preparing food and finding baby sitters – that can become overwhelming when a family member is deployed.

“She knows people stay behind; they worry about their loved ones,” Bush said. “She helps fill that void with love and compassion and care.”

Rice owns a T-shirt store with her husband, National Guard Sgt. Maj. Michael Rice, but finds time to do everything from selling hot dogs to raise money for the family program to helping a guard member rebuild a chicken coop.

“I go where I’m needed,” she said. “When the soldiers deploy, I’m there for all of them. I feel like I have to be.”

In Manchester, Bush praised Perkins, a co-founder of the Souhegan Valley Boys and Girls Club in Milford, for answering his call to “make America as hopeful and promising a place as possible.”

Perkins, 38, owns three Dunkin Donuts in Milford, where he does most of his volunteer work.

“That’s where I have my business, and I truly believe you’ve got to give back to the community that gives to you,” he said.

Among other volunteer activities, Perkins helps organize an effort by Dunkin Donut stores around New Hampshire to send coffee to American troops overseas earlier this year.

Bush also honored Hillsborough’s Army Sgt. Matthew DeWitt, who lost his lower arms in July when his platoon took part in an effort to capture Saddam loyalists in Baghdad.

“He doesn’t consider himself a hero,” said Bush, who visited DeWitt in the hospital in Washington. “He just says, ‘I was just doing my job.’ Yet it is great people like this 26-year-old-from New Hampshire who protect us. We count on them, and we’re proud of them.”

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