SA - Give a Soldier A Ride (San Antonio, Jacksonville: coupons, home)

[BstYet2Be]

Hi Folks,

Thought I'd share a thread I came across in the NC/Raleigh/Durham forum, especially with the heavy military presence in the San Antonio area. It was a real eye-opener for me to find that transportation for our soldiers is not always provided for, and, as stated in one of the posts, "unless a soldier can grab a ride, he or she has to pay for the transportation themselves and can often sit at the airport up to eight hours or more waiting for a bus to pick them up."

Give a Soldier a Ride

Since y'all live there in San Antonio and would be more personally aware of how this situation may or may not be happening at your airport in the area, I thought I'd throw this out for some good food for thought and, as suggested, if you are motivated to help, you should stop in the USO office at the airport (see USO site for both USO locations in San Antonio -- USO | Support Our Troops | Find Your Local USO) and introduce yourself as well as drop off some treats there anytime you're going to the airport.

[Deep Forest]

When I was in the Air Force here I drove home to Pa. alot and one time I saw an Army pvt. in full dress uniform out on the interstate in Va. Everybody was passing him up, 'cept me. I stopped, made him show me his military id and tried to take him to as close to where ever he was going. That could have been me !!!

[gwrober]

In high school I was in ROTC - my friend and I were walking back to my place after some function, in full dress, and must have had 15 cars stop and ask us if we needed a ride. I only lived about two miles from school. Oh, this was in Jacksonville, AR, about '89-90.

[gwrober]

Originally Posted by new2sa

Hi Folks,

Thought I'd share a thread I came across in the NC/Raleigh/Durham forum, especially with the heavy military presence in the San Antonio area. It was a real eye-opener for me to find that transportation for our soldiers is not always provided for, and, as stated in one of the posts, "unless a soldier can grab a ride, he or she has to pay for the transportation themselves and can often sit at the airport up to eight hours or more waiting for a bus to pick them up."

Give a Soldier a Ride

Since y'all live there in San Antonio and would be more personally aware of how this situation may or may not be happening at your airport in the area, I thought I'd throw this out for some good food for thought and, as suggested, if you are motivated to help, you should stop in the USO office at the airport (see USO site for both USO locations in San Antonio -- USO | Support Our Troops | Find Your Local USO) and introduce yourself as well as drop off some treats there anytime you're going to the airport.

I found a list of sorts of programs they have: http://www.alamouso.org/programs.htm (broken link)

They also have quite a list of care items!

[sapphire]

I've always liked Gary Sinise, but after clicking on the USO thread, I have much more admiration for him.

[Paka]

Originally Posted by sapphire

I've always liked Gary Sinise, but after clicking on the USO thread, I have much more admiration for him.

Gary and Robin Williams are two folks that do LOTS of USO tours without all the fanfare...they are doing it for the troops, not the media.

I so admire both of them for the time they volunteer to travel and go into harms way to be with those that serve.

I think the two of them are about as close to Bob Hope as we have these days in that venue. God Bless Um!

[gwrober]

Originally Posted by Paka

Gary and Robin Williams are two folks that do LOTS of USO tours without all the fanfare...they are doing it for the troops, not the media.

I so admire both of them for the time they volunteer to travel and go into harms way to be with those that serve.

I think the two of them are about as close to Bob Hope as we have these days in that venue. God Bless Um!

That's an excellent comparison - I hadn't thought about that! Unfortunately it's mostly TV faces looking for PR stunts. But, at least the troops have a good time.

[PopsGuysRule]

Yeah, like Sapphire, I did not know Gary Sinise and his involvement with USO, and I also admire him greatly for it. I had not known, either, that Robin Williams was involved at a high level.
I wish I could do more myself. I am just a staunch supporter of our troops and of civilian entities that serve us, like the police dept and fire depts and paramedica... I guess it's been clear, with my posts about involvement with SAPD that I'm a great supporter.....
I just don't think there's any way at all that we can repay selfless service that we get form our VOLUNTEER (!!!) military and civil entities....

[crazedchef]

Hello,

You would be surprised about how many celebrities come over here.

My work companion got to see Carlos Mencia the last time he was passing through Victory.

I saw (did not walk up, I'm not military) Vince Vaughn at La Fleur D-Fac where he had just sceened Wedding Crashers: BEFORE IT EVEN CAME OUT. No press, no one really paid attention, he just showed up and did his thing, brought some smiles and left.

Charlie Daniels was at Cropper when I was at the RPC. He borrowed a fellow employee's guitar (a local national one) and was impressed with the sound it made during his impromptu concert for 20 or so people.

Arnold, John Elway, all sorts of NFL Cheerleaders and lesser known comedians.

One of the soldiers here at D8 Loyalty wrote a fan letter to Jim McMahon ('85 Bears) and just a few months later he showed up here.

I especially admired him (and the other people who came with him, cannot remember their names) because at the time we were getting nailed ALL OF THE TIME and were under a level "black" (wear all your kevlar everytime you go outside). We are a FOB (Forward Operating Base) so we do not get a whole lot of VIP's here.

Victory on the other hand get's VIP's all of the time.

Gotta run,

crazedchef

[42JetSet]

There are also a number of country music stars that are highly supportive -- Toby Keith and Charlie Daniels are two of the most visible. Gary Sinese is an amazing, amazing man -- his band, "The Lt. Dan Band" plays all over the US at bases. He shows up in the most unexpected places here in Europe (I don't know about his band) with great regularity.

Military families -- in the US AND those of us abroad -- appreciate all the positive support we get from anywhere. It really, really matters to our morale. For instance, I'm very involved in a group called "MOPS" (Mothers of PreSchoolers) as a senior mentor. We have a church group and ladies VFW aux group from Florida that has "adopted" us sends sorted coupons for our young moms to use (with the exchange rate and rising cost of groceries, our young military families can use all the help they can get!). Overseas commissaries allow a six-month extension on coupon expiration dates.

The young families can use any and ALL of our help. So give the guys at the airport a ride... find out how you can help young military families in your community (Airman Basic don't make much $$ at all!)... and thank the whole family when you see them.

Thank you all for knowing we're just doing our job (military spouses included in that statement!!).