USO TOUR 2009

USO TOUR 2009

Hi everyone!!!! As i sit in my room reflecting back on my journey to the middle east so far my head is spinning!!! WE have been here a total of 48 hours and already feel like i’ve been here a week!!!  We have done and seen so much!!!! Maybe its the fact i have only slept a total of 20 minutes on the bus because i am on pure adrenalin of the fact that I am finally here!!!! Since we landed its been full throttle!! I couldn’t be with a better group of guys on this journey, D Squared (legend.. do your hip hop research!!) Lord Vader from the Wonder Twins (my new friend for life) , Barry Carew, (Thank You for making this dream come true) , Johny Shine (my right hand) and last but not least  my great friends, Vin Rock , Kay GEE, and Trech better know as Naughty By Nature!!!! We are all here for the same reason…… TO PLAY FOR OUR US SOLDIERS!!!! After staying up all night to watch game 6 of the world series thru Kay Gees laptop, I realized what a world away we were culturally. We are in a very different place a world away from home and all its comforts!! After watching the Yankees win the world series we had breakfast and loaded the bus to our first base. WOW when we got there i realized how real this is and why we were here!!!!!! Im not trying to bite, but in Vaders  blog http://wondertwinz.wordpress.com he wrote…. “Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘HOLY SHIT… WHAT A RIDE!!’” I cant say it any better!!!!! As we pulled thru the checkpoints I started to see the faces of young men and women who were sent here to fight for what we all take for granted back home. As many of you will read this from your office, or bedroom, or Starbucks, im looking at young men and women sharing a tent that sleeps 30 people and share shower time. A lot of these young kids and i do mean young kids, many of them right out of high school whose lives are put on hold for the job at hand were so happy we were there.  Although i think i was even more excited to se them!!! As for the show it self???? The 14 hour flight, the lack of sleep, the long car ride to the base were all forgotten when i hit that stage!!!!!! Looking out at thousands of our soldiers gave me an energy like i never felt before!!!! Then Naughty took the stage. What can i say about a legendary group like this….. AMAZING !!!!!! I also dee jayed for them as well along side of Kay Gee.. The moment that hit me the most is when they did the song “EVERYTHING IS GONNA BE ALL RIGHT” I had to step back and stop because it froze me in my tracks on how powerful that song was at that moment. Seeing these soldiers forget for that hour and a half where they were and why they were there!!!! AT THAT MOMENT WE ALL WERE BACK HOME IN OUR RESPECTED CITYS AND HAVING THE TIME OF OUR LIVES!!!!!! After the show we took so many pics and met so many faces. Now to put all of this into prospective, many of those faces were shipping out within hours…. STOP!!!!! …… It hits me how important this trip has become. what an honor it it is to be here in the presence of such selfless service, braveness, and greatness!!!! I took a pic with one soldier who was hoping his pictures would come out because his view finder was cracked and broke from being blown up and says to me ” Yea i got blown up this is my third deployment im glad it was the camera and not my leg” and then laughs and we took the picture… SPEECHLESS !!!!! MOST OF OUR WAR STORIES WILL BE HOW WE WOKE UP WITH A HANGOVER…..