Not a visit from Santa, but it'll do!

It must be Christmas. You can tell, not by the decorations or music in the PX, but by the number of visitors we get. Some of you may know of the USO tours made famous by Bob Hope. The USO is still at it and brings a lot of talent in especially around holidays. You can check their website and read all about them, and yes they accept donations. Since I have been here we have had the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders twice, Chuck Norris, and a few comedians. I haven’t had time to go to any of those, but I made time today.

This USO tour is sponsored by the Sergeant Major of the Army, SMA Kenneth Preston. He brought along the Cheerleaders, and some singers and a model. I realize many of you are not military so I will take a minute to explain the SMA. The Seargent Major of the Army is the highest ranking enlisted Soldier in the Army. You can read about this personal accomplishments here http://www.army.mil/leaders/SMA/bio.htm . The US Army’s website describes the SMA’s duties and responsibilities; “The Sergeant Major of the Army serves as the Army Chief of Staff's personal adviser on all enlisted-related matters, particularly in areas affecting Soldier training and quality of life. The SMA devotes the majority of his time to traveling throughout the Army observing training, and talking to Soldiers and their families. The SMA sits on a wide variety of councils and boards that make decisions affecting enlisted Soldiers and their families and is routinely invited to testify before Congress.”

I found out late in the afternoon he would be available for a meet and greet, so I headed over with my boss and a camera. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to see not only SMA Preston, but a model that has been in some men's magazines (I read them for the in depth and compelling articles), Darryl Worley, and a couple other singers. We each got our turn to go up and get a picture and an autograph. Each of the celebs was great. Asked us how we were, where we were from, that sort of stuff. Shook hands, hug, pat on the back, the whole thing. I realize this is all PR for them but really, you gotta want to do it to be that into it hour after hour. Keep in mind these folks have been doing this around camps in the area for days and will be going around to Iraq and Afghanistan.

So for all that this being away for the holidays sucks, this was fairly bright spot. I have to say thanks to the USO. They are the organization that put this stuff together. They do a lot of other morale stuff as well. For example, they run the “canteen’s” at the major US airports. These are places where military members and their families can get a snack, watch TV and relax in between flights. Some have bunks if you are going to have a lay over. Thanks USO, and thanks to the folks that come out and visit us. We appreciate it.