‘It really was a joke at first’: Viral bobblehead of deployed Hoosier, upstaged by ‘real’ man’s latest selfie By MIKE SULLIVAN

PITTSBORO, Ind. — A Hoosier native deployed to Iraq finds himself in President Trump’s latest selfie.

The president and first lady surprised troops overseas as part of a USO Tour and Sam Giltner just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

It turns out, Giltner is a selfie king, but just not in the way you’d expect.  When he left, his family made four bobblehead versions of him.

“One was intended to be kept with the kids, so that they were not lonely, and always have a piece of their dad with them,” Rachel Giltner said of her husband’s wobbly replica.

Giltner left for Iraq in May to work intelligence.

Shortly after, Bobble Sam became a social media sensation as he was passed around to nearly all the drivers at the Indianapolis 500. From there, his social media surge on Facebook only rose.

“Actually Tyler Trent got to meet Bobble Sam,” Rachel said, “That’s how we phrase it, “Who gets to meet Bobble Sam because it’s quite an honor to meet him.”

Giltner is a Purdue grad, while Rachel went to Indiana University.

“Sometimes my kids are like can daddy eat with us tonight? So we put Bobblehead Daddy on the table,” Rachel Giltner said, “We always say that Bobble Sam has the best life, and real Sam is pretty jealous of all the adventures that Bobble Sam has been too.”

“Real” Sam is getting the upper hand following his encounter with the president.  Rachel first got a text about it from her father-in-law who lives in Las Vegas.

“[He] texted me a picture from CNN.com and said is this real?” Rachel said of the selfie.

Once her husband was able to get on Facebook, he had already been tagged nearly 400 times, with people asking the same question.  The answer is, yes, it’s very real.