Posted on 06/18/2003 5:26:38 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
DAVIE -- Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins is among several entertainers and celebrities visiting troops stationed in the Persian Gulf this week, as part of the USO's first large-scale entertainment tour since the war began in Iraq.
Taylor arrived in the region on Tuesday morning, sharing a 16-hour flight with entertainers like Kid Rock, Lee Ann Womack, Wayne Newton, John Stamos, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, Alyssa Milano and Gary Sinise.
Others, including Robert De Niro, were expected later, Taylor said.
"... Anything can happen, but I feel pretty safe because there's not one person that you talk to that doesn't have a weapon with them," Taylor said.
The tour is part of the USO's "Project Salute," which began in December when De Niro, Billy Crystal and Kevin Spacey visited MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, touching off a joyous frenzy of several hundred uniformed soldiers clamoring for autographs and pictures with the stars.
The tour includes concerts, comic acts, movie screenings, sports clinics and autograph sessions with U.S. troops.
It's Taylor's second trip to visit troops overseas in the last four weeks. Taylor and Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas took a four-day USO Tour to Germany in mid-May, visiting with troops and meeting with youth football players and coaches.
"This is great, man. This is unbelievable," Taylor said Tuesday on a conference call from Camp Doha, Kuwait. "Germany was awesome and this is even a step better because I'm that much closer to the front lines of the fighting. I'm riding around bases seeing bombs and planes and guns everywhere, seeing everything."
The group visited two bases Tuesday. The schedule for the rest of the week is not being released because of security concerns.
Taylor, excused from a three-day minicamp this week for the tour, said he would return to Florida on Sunday.
"It was scary when we landed and they told us all to line up quickly and move to the buses because the terrorist threat is high," Taylor said. "They had it secure. They had the flyovers and all that stuff. That was kind of alarming at the very beginning."
Another NFL star, Duce Staley of the Philadelphia Eagles, is on the trip, as are NBA players Troy Hudson, Cherokee Parks, Mark Madsen, Shawn Marion and Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier. Former ABA and NBA star Spencer Haywood and the members of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are also part of the group.
"It's surprising. They like Kid Rock and the entertainers and the actors, but there's a lot of sports fans over here," Taylor said. "This is America, just removed from America. And they love football."
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