Bob Hope don't come around much anymore.
No, there are traveling entertainers, of one variety or another, but haven't seen the big names around here. Since arriving, Bad Company, the Zac Brown Band, somebody-Whorley, 1/2 of the cast from a TBN show about motorcycle ganges, and "The World's Fastest Rapper" have made their appearances. This is a picture of the Hooters girls. [Note their variable reactions to the skull trauma on the scanner]. They were quite popular, as were the Dallas Cheerleaders.
The USO started off the morale campaign for soldiers, deployed, and otherwise, in 1941, and is probably most famous for the Camp Shows they sponsored to back defenses in the Pacific and Europe in WWII. Now their reach has grown to include access to communication back home, and ocassional sundries (ice cream, shaving kits, dog tags for kids, etc). They even sponsor a program at the hospital where they will record a DVD of the deployed parent reading a book for their children. I did this once, but I over-zealously attempted to read too much at a time (the final chapter of the Percy Jackson book we were reading together). My ambition left the kids with a video the top of my head as I tried to read the final 25 pages before my time in the video booth expired. Live and learn.
The USO started things in partnership with the DoD, and now the DoD has it's own section called the MWR which stands for Morale, Welfare and Recreation. So, there is an entire DoD mini-budget for gyms, movies, concerts, computer access to augment that which was the backbone of the USO. As I connect to the internet daily from this MWR computer to write my blog, check email or connect with family on Skype, I am definitely benefiting from the resource. And again, I am humbled by the set of tools, psychological distractions, as they are, which those before me had to suffer this (and worse) same warish banality.
The USO started off the morale campaign for soldiers, deployed, and otherwise, in 1941, and is probably most famous for the Camp Shows they sponsored to back defenses in the Pacific and Europe in WWII. Now their reach has grown to include access to communication back home, and ocassional sundries (ice cream, shaving kits, dog tags for kids, etc). They even sponsor a program at the hospital where they will record a DVD of the deployed parent reading a book for their children. I did this once, but I over-zealously attempted to read too much at a time (the final chapter of the Percy Jackson book we were reading together). My ambition left the kids with a video the top of my head as I tried to read the final 25 pages before my time in the video booth expired. Live and learn.
The USO started things in partnership with the DoD, and now the DoD has it's own section called the MWR which stands for Morale, Welfare and Recreation. So, there is an entire DoD mini-budget for gyms, movies, concerts, computer access to augment that which was the backbone of the USO. As I connect to the internet daily from this MWR computer to write my blog, check email or connect with family on Skype, I am definitely benefiting from the resource. And again, I am humbled by the set of tools, psychological distractions, as they are, which those before me had to suffer this (and worse) same warish banality.
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