Our NCS Cartoonists USO tour is almost a wrap. Today we depart on the long trip home, leaving the combat zone after several days of hopping about drawing the troops with the USO.

Yesterday we had three separate stops about a large base complex and the response was really overwhelming. Two of the meet and greets were with the whole group and then we again split up into two groups for the last signing. The soldiers and personnel we have visited really seem to be glad we came and almost everyone who came up to us after waiting in a long line started out by thanking us very earnestly for our efforts. That’s funny as it is we who are grateful and feel privileged to be able to get the opportunity to see and visit with these brave men and women. What we are doing is such a small thing compared to the sacrifices and challenges these men and women have given. I am mystified that a silly little cartoon drawn for them and a little conversation recieves so much gratitude, but I am glad we can bing some smiles to some faces and brighten up an otherwise arduous day.

My personal photos are still being reviewed but here are some USO approved images from our time in Landstuhl:

More to be found here. All photos are USO Photos by Jackie Zettles

It’s early morning in the Persian Gulf and our group of National Cartoonists Society cartoonists are preparing to board Blackhawk helicopters to go to various operation bases “down range” to draw for active troops. Last night we flew in on a C-17 transport plane… that was quite a story I will share when I write this all up after returning to the States.

Again, we are not allowed to say where we specifically are due to US military security restrictions. Once we have left the area we are in safely, we can say where and when we were and share those stories. Hopefully I can post some of my own pics once approved, but in the meantime the USO has some photos of our group on their website.

Exciting stuff, but it’s meeting the brave men and women serving our country we are all looking most forward to.

Here’s a link to a news story in the Stars and Stripes about our visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany prior to our shipping out to do more of the same in the Persian Gulf. There are a number of pictures. The polish soldier in the pictures really did laugh so hard we thought he was going to keel over after I showed him my caricature of him. I haven’t killed a subject yet… although a few have thrown up and one peed their pants once. Fortunately the guy didn’t die but he might need fresh stitches.

Q: What you and your fellow cartoonists are doing on your trip to visit the troops is fantastic. How did that all come about?

A: Although he would be quick to try and pass off some of the credit to others, the driving force behind the National Cartoonist Society’s visits to wounded soldiers, veteran’s hospitals and more recently overseas troop locations is Navy Times/Broadside cartoonist Jeff Bacon.

Jeff is a retired naval captain and started his strip “Broadside” in the Navy Times in 1986 while still on active duty. The strip is about the lighter side of life in the Navy, and is well known among service men and women. After joining the NCS and attending a couple of Reubens, Jeff stood up at the business meeting in 2005 and asked what the NCS was doing for our military who were risking their lives so we could draw cartoons and enjoy our way of life. Jeff isn’t the kind of guy to just ask what can be done… he was challenged to come up with something that could be done and he rose to the task magnificently.

Initially there was no funding, so local cartoonists were organized to visit wounded warriors at places like Walter Reed and the Bathesda Naval Hospital in DC and the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where many of the soldiers injured in the combat zone get treated. Visits were also organized at smaller VA hospitals in other parts of the country. Cartoonists paid for their own expenses at first and the cost prohibited larger trips or travel, but the visits were very well received. The NCS was very much behind his efforts, especially president Jeff Keane (The Family Circus), in no small part because his father and The Family Circus‘s creator Bil Keane visited troops with other cartoonists during the Vietnam war. In fact the NCS was really created out of cartoonists trips to visit the soldiers and do “chalk talks” back in the 1940′s, so this was the organization’s real roots.

Eventually Jeff (Bacon) sought funding for the visits, and started trying to get enough financial support for a trip overseas to Landstuhl, Germany and the medical facilities there where the injured soldiers go immediately from the theater after being hurt. In October of last year, Jeff managed to raise enough funds all on his own to sponsor a trip for eight NCS cartoonists to DC/Landstuhl. I was one of those who went on that trip.

Our time with the soldiers on that visit made a real impression on the USO and the military brass there. We have been told numerous times that of all the celebrities that come and visit them, our group has been the most talked about and best received. I suspect it’s because we provide a lot more than just a photo op and a few minutes of banter. We spend time with these folks and create something unique on the spot, just for them, while we get to really hear their story and let them know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice.

The USO took notice and through Jeff’s continued efforts and those of some of the top leaders of the USO, later trips have been sponsored almost entirely by the USO and the Entertainment section of the military, including another to Landstuhl with a different group of cartoonists last March. The cartoonists are going to be making regular trips overseas thanks to the success of our first few visits. This trip into the combat zone (“down range” as they say), which includes the original eight cartoonists from the first overseas tour and the additions of Garry Trudeau and Mike Ramierez, would not have been possible without the major involvement and sponsorship of the USO.

More importantly, none of it would be possible without the tireless efforts of Jeff Bacon. Thank you, Jeff.

Thanks to Grant Jonen for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Just a quick update: The USO cartoonists tour arrived in Kuwait late Saturday night. We are staying in an undisclosed location… no sign of Dick Cheney. I’m too tired to blog and it’s an early morning and busy day tomorrow. More to follow.

Our band of ten National Cartoonist Society cartoonists were a little bleary eyed after an all night flight from Washington DC to Frankfurt, two 2 hour bus ride south to Landstuhl and then literally right to Ramstien Air Force Base and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to meet and draw for “wounded warriors” and the hard working staff of these facilities that take such good care of our injured troops.

We spent all day Friday at LRMC, making many stops in various areas to draw and chat with personnel. One stop was the DWMMC (Deployed Warrior Medical Management Center) where we drew soldiers waiting to get final word on when they were on their way either home or back into the theater. We also toured several wards meeting with injured soldiers right in their rooms, as well as drawing for staff in various conference and break rooms and other parts of the hospital. We wrapped up in the USO center on the premises and then headed back to our lodgings at Ramstien tired but fulfilled.

Today we set up at the USO center in one of the main air terminals at Ramstein and drew for soldiers and family members waiting to depart for various destinations. Thanks to printed advertisements about our visit there we had a nice crowd of military families and soldiers to draw for.

This afternoon we depart from Frankfurt for Kuwait, and the Mideast leg of our tour. I cannot be specific about our destinations, but will try and share what I can as time and internet access allow. Unfortunately I also cannot publish any photos until they are cleared by the USO.. top secret you understand. Mike Peters did some things that will have to remain classified indefinitely, but I think most of our trip will be okay to share with the rest of the world eventually. I will have much more comprehensive coverage of the trip after we get back. Here’s a small blurb about our trip in the Washington Post.

Our group spent a good part of yesterday drawing for and meeting wounded soldiers and medical staff at the Bathesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed. We are now in Landstuhl, Germany and will spend today visiting Ramstien Air Force Base and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Then it’s on to the Middle East.

I have no idea what my Internet access will be on this trip. I am guessing spotty at best. I will try to blog when possible but can’t promise anything.

Here are some pics from Thursday in DC including the whole group at the Bathesda Naval Hospital.

Here is the official press release from the USO on our trip overseas. The exact places we are visiting in Kuwait and Iraq are classified… I’d tell you where they are but then I’d have to kill you.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 14, 2009
Contacts: Oname Thompson, (703) 908-6471

National Cartoonist Society to Draw Smiles on USO Entertainment Tour to Germany and Persian Gulf

ARLINGTON, Va. – The USO and the National Cartoonist Society (NCS) will soon deploy ten of today’s most recognized cartoonists and caricaturists on a week-long entertainment tour to visit troops stationed in Germany and the Persian Gulf.  The group will visit wounded troops at the USO Warrior Center at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and more than a dozen military bases in the combat zone.  Committed to showing their support to America’s Armed Forces, they will also make personalized sketches for troops.  The tour will include:

• Jeff Bacon of “Broadside” and “Greenside”
• Chip Bok syndicated editorial cartoonist
• Bruce Higdon of Army Times, Army Magazine, Soldiers Magazine, and Stars and Stripes
• Jeff Keane of “The Family Circus”
• Rick Kirkman of “Baby Blues”
• Stephan Pastis of “Pearls Before Swine”
• Mike Peters of “Mother Goose and Grimm”
• Michael Ramirez of Investors Business Daily
• Tom Richmond of MAD Magazine
• Garry Trudeau of “Doonesbury”

The NCS traces its association with the USO to World War II, when professional cartoonists made repeated trips overseas to entertain troops.  Whether visiting military hospitals, entertaining troops with chalk talks, or sharing words of encouragement, approximately one hundred professional cartoonists and caricaturists have participated in military-related trips.  In 2008, the USO sponsored eight cartoonists to travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Naval Medical Center and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.  A similar trip was organized earlier this year.

“I’m so proud of our men and women in uniform,” said Jeff Keane, President of the National Cartoonists Society.  “They, much like my dad who served in the Army back in the mid-1940s, have worked so hard and sacrificed so much.  I am honored to be part of this USO tour and I can’t thank our troops enough.”

In times of peace and war, the USO consistently delivers its special brand of entertainment and comfort to service members around the world.  In 2008, celebrity entertainers traveled to 27 countries and 23 states, entertaining more than 236,000 troops and their families.

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About the USO

The USO (United Service Organizations) lifts the spirits of America’s armed forces and their families.  We provide a touch of home to troops wherever they serve through centers at airports and military bases around the world, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services tailored to meet the needs of troops and their families.  The USO is not a government agency and relies on the generosity of the American people.  The USO is also supported by Worldwide Strategic Partners AT&T Inc., BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, Clear Channel Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, Gallery Furniture, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, S & K Sales Co. and TriWest Healthcare Alliance.  Other corporate donors, including the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381), have joined millions of individual donors to support the USO.  For more information, please visit www.uso.org.

Again, how often I can blog will depend much on my internet access and scheduling when on the trip. There are also a whole lot of rules about what we can and can’t do via blogs and the internet… no Geraldo shenanigans.

Last October I was privleged to be part of a group of cartoonists who traveled to Washington D.C. and then on to Landstuhl, Germany to visit with and draw for wounded U.S. soldiers. Those who went on the trip with me were Chip Bok, Jeff Keane, Rick Kirkman, Mike Peters, Bruce Higdon, Jeff Bacon and Stephan Pastis. The trip was an incredible experience.

Last month another group of 8 cartoonists made the same trip. Bill Amend (Fox Trot), Jeff Bacon (cartoonist for Navy Times and Marine Corps Times), Dave Coverly (Speed Bump), Jack Davis (Mad Magazine), Bill Hinds (Tank McNamara, Cleats, Buzz Beamer),  Jef Mallett (Frazz), Michael Ramirez (editorial cartoonist for Investors Business Daily) and Rob Smith Jr. (editorial cartoonist for Glen Beck) made the trek this time, visiting convelesing soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital and Bathesda Naval Hospital in the D.C. area, then Landstuhl Medical Center and other U.S. military medical facilities in Germany. You can read a bit about their trip here. I know they had an amazing trip… it’s impossible not to become emotional seeing these young men and women who have given so much for us and our country. They are all heroes.

These trips are great and I hope they will continue. Jeff Bacon is the man who has gotten these things organized, funded and overseen. He deserves a big hand: