thedrifter
05-07-06, 07:33 AM
Sunday, May 7, 2006
Troops relish the gift of laughter
VALLEY VIEWS
By Dave Price
I recently took a break from weathercasting and landed a gig doing stand-up comedy as an opening act for the Charlie Daniels Band. No big deal —it's not a popular place. And the audience? Well, they'll laugh at almost any joke.
You see, I played in Iraq for our soldiers and Marines. It's not the first time I played overseas. About six months ago I went to Afghanistan and did the same for the the troops serving there.
During this five-day trip, we entertained some 22,000 troops on four bases in Iraq and Kuwait.
One question I've been asked over and over since I got back is "Why did you go?" I am not a politician and I don't have an ideological agenda. I don't report hard news and I don't live for the adrenaline high of dropping into war zones.
It's simple: I went to support our men and women who face danger and death every day. I went to say thanks. I went to make our soldiers laugh and forget about where they were for an hour or so.
Before the tour started, we stopped at Ramstein Air Base Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where many of the injured in Iraq are airlifted. It is heartbreaking to see some of the injuries sustained in battle, but the soldiers I spoke with were eager to rejoin their comrades and return to complete their mission. Unfortunately, not all are able to do so.
After a stop in Kuwait and a show for approximately 8,000 troops, we boarded a C-130 airplane for Iraq.
The other frequently asked question about Iraq is "What is it really like?" Our first stop was Fallujah and several locations within the Sunni triangle. By day we traveled in UH-60 helicopters to the remote bases, Forward Operating Bases with fewer soldiers. They are often hard to get to and many are in "hot" areas.
We performed for soldiers and Marines who hadn't seen any entertainers in months, because getting there is just too risky. At Forward Operating Base Habbinayah we played an impromptu show with no lights and no microphones, and spent the rest of our brief time on the ground meeting and greeting the soldiers. They had lost a soldier just 24 hours earlier, but their focus was razor sharp and their commitment unwavering.
Life-saving mission
In Fallujah we spent time with a group of soldiers who were unable to attend the show because they were heading out in a convoy. These men were Improvised Explosive Device hunters. They drive the roads looking for explosive devices and then get out of their armored vehicles in summertime heat of 125 degrees or more to disarm them. Every single disarmament can be correlated to lives saved — Iraqi and American.
They explained how easy it is for insurgents to create havoc with an answering machine, mortar and a pile of garbage, and how a band of these people comb the countryside and cities within Iraq planting explosive devices in as fast as 60 seconds.
In Baghdad I met a soldier who was frustrated that the good news about the progress being made in Iraq didn't seem to be making the headlines in the U.S. He told me about how training the Iraqi army was a slow but steady process and about the strides that were being made in establishing relationships between military personnel and Iraqi civilians.
I was asked, "How do you show trust on television?" and "How do you show a countryman no longer fearing the army that serves him?"
These are challenging questions.
I pay a great deal of attention to the death toll and casualty reports in our newscasts and in the paper each day. It is hard to focus attention on anything else while I think of the devastating loss of a child, sibling or parent. But the men and women I met asked me to communicate that despite the awful toll, there are good things happening and they'd like us to keep that in mind as well.
Dave Price is a weatherman and feature reporter for CBS News' "The Early Show." He grew up in Poughkeepsie and graduated from Poughkeepsie High School.
Ellie
Troops relish the gift of laughter
VALLEY VIEWS
By Dave Price
I recently took a break from weathercasting and landed a gig doing stand-up comedy as an opening act for the Charlie Daniels Band. No big deal —it's not a popular place. And the audience? Well, they'll laugh at almost any joke.
You see, I played in Iraq for our soldiers and Marines. It's not the first time I played overseas. About six months ago I went to Afghanistan and did the same for the the troops serving there.
During this five-day trip, we entertained some 22,000 troops on four bases in Iraq and Kuwait.
One question I've been asked over and over since I got back is "Why did you go?" I am not a politician and I don't have an ideological agenda. I don't report hard news and I don't live for the adrenaline high of dropping into war zones.
It's simple: I went to support our men and women who face danger and death every day. I went to say thanks. I went to make our soldiers laugh and forget about where they were for an hour or so.
Before the tour started, we stopped at Ramstein Air Base Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where many of the injured in Iraq are airlifted. It is heartbreaking to see some of the injuries sustained in battle, but the soldiers I spoke with were eager to rejoin their comrades and return to complete their mission. Unfortunately, not all are able to do so.
After a stop in Kuwait and a show for approximately 8,000 troops, we boarded a C-130 airplane for Iraq.
The other frequently asked question about Iraq is "What is it really like?" Our first stop was Fallujah and several locations within the Sunni triangle. By day we traveled in UH-60 helicopters to the remote bases, Forward Operating Bases with fewer soldiers. They are often hard to get to and many are in "hot" areas.
We performed for soldiers and Marines who hadn't seen any entertainers in months, because getting there is just too risky. At Forward Operating Base Habbinayah we played an impromptu show with no lights and no microphones, and spent the rest of our brief time on the ground meeting and greeting the soldiers. They had lost a soldier just 24 hours earlier, but their focus was razor sharp and their commitment unwavering.
Life-saving mission
In Fallujah we spent time with a group of soldiers who were unable to attend the show because they were heading out in a convoy. These men were Improvised Explosive Device hunters. They drive the roads looking for explosive devices and then get out of their armored vehicles in summertime heat of 125 degrees or more to disarm them. Every single disarmament can be correlated to lives saved — Iraqi and American.
They explained how easy it is for insurgents to create havoc with an answering machine, mortar and a pile of garbage, and how a band of these people comb the countryside and cities within Iraq planting explosive devices in as fast as 60 seconds.
In Baghdad I met a soldier who was frustrated that the good news about the progress being made in Iraq didn't seem to be making the headlines in the U.S. He told me about how training the Iraqi army was a slow but steady process and about the strides that were being made in establishing relationships between military personnel and Iraqi civilians.
I was asked, "How do you show trust on television?" and "How do you show a countryman no longer fearing the army that serves him?"
These are challenging questions.
I pay a great deal of attention to the death toll and casualty reports in our newscasts and in the paper each day. It is hard to focus attention on anything else while I think of the devastating loss of a child, sibling or parent. But the men and women I met asked me to communicate that despite the awful toll, there are good things happening and they'd like us to keep that in mind as well.
Dave Price is a weatherman and feature reporter for CBS News' "The Early Show." He grew up in Poughkeepsie and graduated from Poughkeepsie High School.
Ellie