Troops outside secure compounds bemoan lack of USO entertainment

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=20653

Sitting on his bunk in an abandoned factory where he lives with 150 other soldiers, Army Sgt. Gregg Taylor flipped through a pile of CDs: 50 Cent, Linkin Park, Britney Spears, Patsy Cline.

“I like a little of everything,” he boasted.

But the Baltimore reservist assigned to the 372nd Military Police Company out of Cumberland, Md., would love to see some of his favorite artists in person while he’s deployed in the desert. During his 10 months in Iraq, though, he hasn’t seen a single United Service Organizations show.

“It seems like they’ve forgotten me,” Taylor said.

<snip>

The USO has had little success in getting its celebrities beyond the larger, more secure U.S. compounds in Iraq and Afghanistan to the smaller camps and hubs where the majority of troops live and work.

<snip>

Actor Bruce Willis also visited troops that month, but he didn’t step outside Camp Arifjan, a $200 million outpost about 30 miles south of Kuwait City with hard-sided dining halls, gyms and a movie theater.

[bluestateguy]

1. kid rock entertained for the troops

Yet all the "superpatriots" could do was piss and moan about his use of the american flag in the super bowl halftime show. If Bob Hope was alive he'd go.

[RamboLiberal]

3. I will be fair to Willis - I know he visited some base in N Iraq

Up near the border, but probably in a fairly safe area.

But he's still a war-mongering conservative Bush-loving idiot like Dennis Miller.

And let's not forget Al Franken has been on USO tours recently. And he keeps politics out of his schtick when there.

I didn't know till recently but one of the true hero entertainers was Martha Raye.

In honor of more than 50 years of service, the Army she loved remembers "Colonel Maggie of the Boondocks."

During those nine years, she traveled to the most remote locations to visit troops and often did more than entertain. She also put her skills as a nurse to use treating patients and even assisted in surgery. While visiting a special forces camp in Soc Trang in 1967, she spent her performance time in the operating room instead of on stage. After 13 straight hours in surgery, she went through the wards talking, joking and comforting the soldiers.

"Maggie ... helped everybody she could in Vietnam," said Tom Squier. a veteran and friend of Raye. "She told jokes and played cards with us. treated our wounds and got wounded like one of us. She was one of us ... eating what we ate and sleeping in the mud. She never ran out of energy and could not stand to see someone depressed."

Raye’s willingness to travel to the "ends of the earth" to see soldiers earned her a special respect from special forces soldiers, who normally operate in small groups in remote locations. Raye was the one USO entertainer willing to risk her safety to be with them. And, as she did in Soc Trang, she did more than entertain; she took care of the soldiers.

"She loved the Green Berets, and we all loved her," Squier said. "She was a star in her own right, but she was one of us."

<snip>

A special exception to policy was obtained for Raye to be buried in the military cemetery at Fort Bragg, N.C., a request she made two years before her death.

http://www.army.mil/soldiers/aug95/p53.html

[PartyPooper]

9. I've always been a big fan of Martha Raye.

I knew she went all out with the USO. But, I didn't know she was a nurse, too.

Thanks for such a lovely post. I'm sure she's smiling down on you with that big grin of hers!

O8)

[htuttle]

2. Iraq isn't much fun for anyone nowdays

"Charlie didn't get much USO. He was dug in too deep or moving too fast. His idea of great R&R was cold rice and a little rat meat. He had only two ways home: death, or victory"
-- Captain Benjamin L. Willard, Apocalpyse Now

[Voltaire99]

4. Brilliant post (n/t)

[SpiralHawk]

5. I hear that Jacko is available

"Unless your family owns an oil or pharmaceutical company, there is no reason they should support the Republican party."

[mobuto]

6. Army Sgt. Gregg Taylor:

Sitting on his bunk in an abandoned factory where he lives with 150 other soldiers, Army Sgt. Gregg Taylor flipped through a pile of CDs: 50 Cent, Linkin Park, Britney Spears, Patsy Cline.
“I like a little of everything,” he boasted.


Your taste in music really sucks.

[fortyfeetunder]

7. Give the soldier a break!

You think he gotta record store to shop at down da street? I guess when you are down and out in Iraq, even a little Willie Nelson would be entertaining...

[Columbia]

8. They usually just stock the new stuff at the PXs

And yes they are available in Iraq. I bought a LOT of CDs out there - listening to music is a good escape.