Preparing to head to the airport to put in some time as a volunteer at the USO. It's a busy time as about 30,000 troops who are stationed here fly home for the holidays. I'm covering the 8-midnight shift.
Status report Page 191
Quote: DaButt @ December 19 2008, 11:33 PM GMTPreparing to head to the airport to put in some time as a volunteer at the USO. It's a busy time as about 30,000 troops who are stationed here fly home for the holidays. I'm covering the 8-midnight shift.
What kind of stuff do you have to do?
Quote: Ned1984 @ December 19 2008, 11:35 PM GMTWhat kind of stuff do you have to do?
Not sure, as this is my first time. But I think I'll be serving food and drinks, helping people find their way around the airport and city, loaning video game systems to the soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines, etc.
Cool, I've never heard of anything like that going on here. It possibly does and I just haven't found out about it, but I wouldn't mind helping for a couple of hours a week, I have friends and relatives who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is a big military town and a lot of the troops are here for training. All USAF basic training is done at Lackland AFB and much of the U.S. military's medical training is done at Fort Sam Houston. Training bases tend to empty out at Christmas, so there's a lot of work involved with shipping thousands of them home over the course of 1 or 2 days.
There's also another big USO downtown near the Alamo and Riverwalk. It's the main tourist attraction in town and a lot of the new troops congregate there on the weekends. The USO offers them food, drinks, a place to relax, etc.
Quote: DaButt @ December 19 2008, 11:53 PM GMTThis is a big military town and a lot of the troops are here for training. All USAF basic training is done at Lackland AFB and much of the U.S. military's medical training is done at Fort Sam Houston. Training bases tend to empty out at Christmas, so there's a lot of work involved with shipping thousands of them home over the course of 1 or 2 days.
There's also another big USO downtown near the Alamo and Riverwalk. It's the main tourist attraction in town and a lot of the new troops congregate there on the weekends. The USO offers them food, drinks, a place to relax, etc.
The Alamo makes me think of this
Quote: Dr Mato @ December 20 2008, 12:02 AM GMTThe Alamo makes me think of this
Bad, bad Pee Wee though 
Quote: Dr Mato @ December 20 2008, 12:02 AM GMTThe Alamo makes me think of this
I knew which video it would be before I even tried the link.
Pee-wee grew up near my hometown. His parents were acquaintances of my mother.
Wow.
He is ace.
Just got back from spending 6 hours at the USO. It was a lot of fun. I met a lot of good kids along with some cute USAF girls and military moms.
I spent some time talking to a 45-year-old private who just reenlisted. He's my age and served back in the 80s like I did. My hat is off to him for having the cojones to do it all over again.
Almost 10,000 airmen and soldiers will pass through the USO today and tomorrow. We served pizza, sandwiches and drinks, handed out blankets and generally assisted dozens of troops who missed flights and were spending the night sleeping on every horizontal surface. I handed out about 100 blankets that were knitted and crocheted by old ladies at a local senior center. Each one had a signed, handwritten message from the woman who made it. It was heartwarming and I finally felt the first twinge of Christmas spirit this year.
As I left at 1 a.m., Army buses were dropping off an additional 200 soldiers. That's 200 men and women who will want a place to sleep and an outlet to recharge their iPods, phones and laptops.
Sounds like a really worthwhile voluntary shift. Highly commendable.
It was a really great evening. I love talking to the young members of our military. They're such a polite, eager, proud group of men and women. Many of them have served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and still they persevere. They make me proud.
I heard a story about an Army platoon that entered a village in Afghanistan in search of Taliban fighters. Of course everyone in the village swore that there were no Taliban fighters for miles, so the troops switched to humanitarian mode and offered medical aid to the villagers. They treated a young boy horribly burned by a cooking accident and his mother was so thankful that she whispered to the young medic that there were Taliban "hiding in every building in the village."
Quote: DaButt @ December 20 2008, 9:02 AM GMTI heard a story about an Army platoon that entered a village in Afghanistan in search of Taliban fighters. Of course everyone in the village swore that there were no Taliban fighters for miles, so the troops switched to humanitarian mode and offered medical aid to the villagers. They treated a young boy horribly burned by a cooking accident and his mother was so thankful that she whispered to the young medic that there were Taliban "hiding in every building in the village."
I like to hear things like that, that's given me a smile to start my day. That lady probably saved lives, it's good to know that the soldiers are not being seen as bad guys by everyone.
I still can't help but feel that we'd all be better served by going in and just killing every last f**ker in sight. Put an end to these pesky Talibans once and for all.
