The A-list “celebrities” who visit the theater did not leave the Green Zone.
Those who came out to the hinterlands of Al-Anbar were those who did not have all the USO support the beautiful people did.
- PERSONAL STORY STARTS HERE -
One who visited us, was Billy Blanks, the man who created Tae-bo. He stayed at Ramadi for about three days, giving live demos and pressing flesh.
Being the old guy that I am, I asked him to walk a few paces away from the crowd with me, which I was surprised he did. I showed him The Berm, the mound of earth that formed the walls of the base. Right beyond that berm, were the Mooj.
I told him, the important people wouldn’t dare come out this far and this close to danger. But you did, Mr. Blanks, you did. He seemed truly humble at that.
- END PERSONAL STORY -
The only other person of note was Ollie North himself. He rode with the Marines, of course. Alyssa Milano showed up once, just as we got there, and some cheesecake cheering squad, but that was it.
I know some individuals, like Jesse James and Chuck Norris, Morgan Freeman.. visited - but why isn't there any good old USO shows for our guys???
Where are the kind of shows we used to see for the troops =
Here is their web site and their 2007 schedule - I'm not impressed. - Lots of shows in the USA and around the world - but few in Iraq or Afghanistan - and those not much to write home about.
http://www.uso.org/
..
http://www.uso.org/whatwedo/entertainment/2007tourschedule/
I wonder if those who donate to the USO don't expect more entertainment for our troops out there in the battle zones? They're the ones who need a respite from the heat, the sand flies, the no showers or running water or hot meals - and flying bullets, "INCOMING!" and IED's
Guess I’ll have to look up who Billy Blanks is.
The ironic thing is that Ramadi is probably safer now than Baghdad, or was till Sheik Abu Risha was assassinated last week.
Do you have any idea if his death will seriously set back the Anbar Awakening? He was the prime mover from what I’ve read. As was our Colonel MacFarland who spoke Arabic and had so much interaction with the Sunnis to convince them they would do better with us than with al Qaeda before he was killed.