Celebrities come to visit the troops on a pretty regular basis. Normally it’s actors or musicians. Occasionally it’s the actor who thinks he’s a musician. We were visited by one today. Gary Sinise stopped by. You know him from CSI NY. Most troops know him as “Lieutenant Dan” of Forrest Gump fame. He has his own band. It’s named (you guessed it) “The LT Dan Band”. Fortunately LT Dan left his band behind this time. He’s been known to tour around the war zone frequently. FYI – another actor who thinks he’s a musician is Bruce Willis. He has his own band and tours around military installations as well. Now before you get the idea I’m being critical let me set the record straight. I’m glad celebrities come visit the soldiers. It really is a morale boost. I hope they continue to do so. I’m just being sarcastic about the musical talents of some of the visitors. Then again, they have more musical talent than me so perhaps I’m also envious.
Ok so Gary Sinise came to visit LSAA today. At lunchtime he was at DFAC 1 to sign autographs and meet the soldiers. I guess there were a lot more fans than I thought. The place was mobbed. There was a very long line to see him. Even members of my team wanted to meet him. “Sir, we just want to call him LT Dan!” I heard one of my soldiers exclaim. Another had a plan to get him ice cream and say, “LT Dan! I brought you some ice cream!” Soldiers are goofy. It left me wondering how many times Mr. Sinise has heard those lines.
I avoided the scene. Instead I opted for a takeout lunch and went back to the AC comfort of my hooch. I never did find out if my soldiers met LT Dan.
Later in the day I took a drive to west LSAA to check out their PX. It’s much nicer, cleaner, and better stocked than the one on east Anaconda. I didn’t buy anything though. I’m really a cheap bastard when I’m deployed and can go for weeks without spending any money. After departing the PX I passed a staging area where a convoy was forming to head out somewhere. The scene always reminds me of the movie “The Road Warrior”. Normally a convoy is Army security and a bunch of contract trucks. The Army security is standardized equipment – armored cars, armored humvees, gun trucks, etc. It’s the contracted trucks that are reminiscent of Road Warrior. Their trucks are the normal civilian big rigs. However, they are all up-armored in some of the craziest fashions. You’ll see everything from bolted on boiler plates to standard Kevlar and steel kits. The windows are covered with heavy-gauge wire mesh. There are angled deflector plates, hillbilly armor, and anything else added that may afford protection. Then the cabs of the trucks are personalized with weird looking tapestries of ornate colors, tassels, and other crazy ornamental fixtures. The fronts of the trucks are emblazoned with fake Mercedes logos, steer horns, or whatever else the driver thinks looks tough. It is one surreal scene to see a convoy pull out of Anaconda.
AFN was showing the movie “I, Robot” for about the twentieth time since I’ve been here. I guess someone thinks it’s a great flick. It just meant another evening of burning the time doing something else. That’s just about true for every night.
Ok so Gary Sinise came to visit LSAA today. At lunchtime he was at DFAC 1 to sign autographs and meet the soldiers. I guess there were a lot more fans than I thought. The place was mobbed. There was a very long line to see him. Even members of my team wanted to meet him. “Sir, we just want to call him LT Dan!” I heard one of my soldiers exclaim. Another had a plan to get him ice cream and say, “LT Dan! I brought you some ice cream!” Soldiers are goofy. It left me wondering how many times Mr. Sinise has heard those lines.
I avoided the scene. Instead I opted for a takeout lunch and went back to the AC comfort of my hooch. I never did find out if my soldiers met LT Dan.
Later in the day I took a drive to west LSAA to check out their PX. It’s much nicer, cleaner, and better stocked than the one on east Anaconda. I didn’t buy anything though. I’m really a cheap bastard when I’m deployed and can go for weeks without spending any money. After departing the PX I passed a staging area where a convoy was forming to head out somewhere. The scene always reminds me of the movie “The Road Warrior”. Normally a convoy is Army security and a bunch of contract trucks. The Army security is standardized equipment – armored cars, armored humvees, gun trucks, etc. It’s the contracted trucks that are reminiscent of Road Warrior. Their trucks are the normal civilian big rigs. However, they are all up-armored in some of the craziest fashions. You’ll see everything from bolted on boiler plates to standard Kevlar and steel kits. The windows are covered with heavy-gauge wire mesh. There are angled deflector plates, hillbilly armor, and anything else added that may afford protection. Then the cabs of the trucks are personalized with weird looking tapestries of ornate colors, tassels, and other crazy ornamental fixtures. The fronts of the trucks are emblazoned with fake Mercedes logos, steer horns, or whatever else the driver thinks looks tough. It is one surreal scene to see a convoy pull out of Anaconda.
AFN was showing the movie “I, Robot” for about the twentieth time since I’ve been here. I guess someone thinks it’s a great flick. It just meant another evening of burning the time doing something else. That’s just about true for every night.
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