Live from Kuwait- USO Cartoonists Tour 2009

Our group of ten National Cartoonists Society cartoonists spent Sunday visiting multiple U.S. bases in Kuwait, drawing for and visiting with the troops. According to USO and military blogging and twittering guidelines, I cannot be specific about where we are currently at or where we are going to, but I can name places we have visited and left from safely. I also cannot post any photos until they are approved by the USO for release. I am hoping to have some pictures I submitted for approval available to share before our trip is complete, but once we have returned I will be blogging extensively about our experience and should have lots of pictures, etc.

In the meantime, I can say that yesterday our group visited Camp Arifjan where we were briefed by the head of the U.S. Army MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) about the MWR’s efforts in the Persian Gulf and the logisitics of the bases we would be visiting. We were then split into two groups and visited two bases each. Our group consisted of myself, Jeff Keane, Jeff Bacon, Mike Peters and Chip Bok as well as USO tour leaders and photographers. We stopped at Camp Buerhing and Camp Virginia and spent time in their USO centers meeting both bases station personnel and soldiers who were staying there either training and prepping for deployment into the theater or were decompressing in preparation for going back home after a tour of duty down range.

These soldiers work incredibly hard under conditions of great stress to defend our liberties and to combat the forces of terrorism to help keep not only the citizens of the United States but all the world safer. It is a great privilege to be able to give back in our small way and bring a few smiles to their faces.

More later when time and USO protocol allows.