Which celebrity or Band visited your base during your deployment?

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 18:18:01 -0400

All we had was the Oakland Raiderettes B-Squad cheer team and Tito Ortiz, And i think former SMA Preston came to our COB.

Response by SGT Richard H. made Oct 25 at 2014 6:20 PM

SGT Richard H. — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 18:20:44 -0400

Bob Hope....oh, wait...I'm not that old.

Response by Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 25 at 2014 6:35 PM

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 18:35:56 -0400

The late Robbin Williams and Lewis Black came to Al Udeid in 2008.

Response by PO2 Rocky Kleeger made Oct 25 at 2014 6:51 PM

PO2 Rocky Kleeger — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 18:51:52 -0400

Back in the 80's I got to see Charlie Daniels in Jacksonville, Fl. And in 2007, Trace Adkins was in Norfolk, Va. Both, free concerts. Other than that, no one really of note.

Although, on the USS Stennis, during the filming of Transformers II, I met Megan Fox. I, literally, ran into her in the hangar bay. I knocked her on her little, bitty butt, helped her up, apologized and went to get coffee.

Response by SPC Mickey Bennett made Oct 25 at 2014 9:46 PM

SPC Mickey Bennett — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 21:46:11 -0400

Aaron Tipton, the Redskins cheerleaders, Ron White (I think), and Trace Adkins!

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 3:42 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 15:42:05 -0400

Robin Williams with Leanne tweeden in 2004. Redskins cheerleaders, Tito Ortiz, and there were more that I can't think of.

Response by SFC William Swartz Jr made Oct 26 at 2014 3:44 PM

SFC William Swartz Jr — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 15:44:29 -0400

Toby Keith visited our FOB, Brassfield-Mora in 2005, was a pretty cool show.

Response by MAJ Jim Woods made Oct 26 at 2014 4:11 PM

MAJ Jim Woods — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:11:33 -0400

1968, Bob Hope, at Phu Cat Airbase. He brought the Gold Diggers and Raquel Welch. As we were grunts and came in by Hueys, the resident Air Force got all the good seats....... I do have a picture somewhere of Bob and Raquel standing together....... from 1/4 mile away on a 1/2 frame Nikon. She is just a flash of red....... never could make anything out.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 4:15 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:15:33 -0400

Justin Bieber???? lol

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 4:22 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:22:15 -0400

The most memorable for me was when the cast of "The Unit" came to visit. I was part of the PSD team. The were some of the most "normal" celebrities I have ever met. For them it was not at all about them, but all about the troops.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Oct 26 at 2014 4:33 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:33:27 -0400

ADM Mullen came with Kid Rock to Sharana, Afghanistan. I give Kid this, he would go anywhere they would fly him to. No pretense. Think Lewis Black came too. I covered the TOC so people could go.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Oct 26 at 2014 5:35 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 17:35:19 -0400

Drew Carey came out in 2003 but I was stopping the "Syrian invasion" and missed it. BTW, the Syrian border is defined by a 2ft (being generous) wall of dirt.

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made Oct 26 at 2014 5:37 PM

LCpl Steve Wininger — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 17:37:29 -0400

Cheap Trick, The motels, Little jimmy Dickens, and an Elvis trilogy performance that was out of this world.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 6:14 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:14:06 -0400

Trace Adkins was in Balad, Iraq in Oct of 2010. Jim Kelly and a few other NFL players also made an appearance in Nov in Balad as well.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 6:33 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:33:12 -0400

My BN CSM came out to visit us a few times. Other then that we didn't get any visitors.

Response by SrA Marc Haynes made Oct 26 at 2014 6:39 PM

SrA Marc Haynes — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:39:15 -0400

The then president Jimmy Carter the day after I landed at Rhein Main AB Germany. The only time I was grateful of jet lag.

Response by LT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 6:46 PM

LT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:46:03 -0400

3 Doors Down on the flight deck of GEORGE WASHINGTON off the coast of Portugal, if I remember correctly, back in 2002 was pretty awesome. Heard their whole second album before it was released.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 7:02 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:02:29 -0400

We had some big hotshot country singer "visit" FOB Frontenac. I use quotation marks because my PLT stayed in the MP doing maintenance and mission prep while our sister PLT took their vehicles to the center of the FOB for a little show and tell. They stayed maybe an hour or two, did a small meet and greet, ate, then left. Was fairly disappointing not because I didn't get to go, but because to me it seemed like "hi, i'm here treat me special, oh look gotta go".

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 7:49 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:49:28 -0400

I didn't get to see any but one idiot who was clearly stoned while preforming.

I was jealous of my buddies in Kuwait who got to see Tech N9ne….lucky

Response by CMDCM Gene Treants made Oct 26 at 2014 9:01 PM

CMDCM Gene Treants — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:01:10 -0400

Saw Tom Jones in Izmir, Turkey; Bob Hope in Guam; and USO Shows all over the Med during different Deployments - with a bunch of no names to remember, but good. Many USO Shows visited in Guam with Japanese groups who did great songs in English, yet spoke not one word of English during breaks.

Have also had four different Congressmen visit my ships while deployed to do meet and greet with constituents from their states, One was from NC (my district, Howard Coble) and I hosted him in the CPO mess while in Genoa, Italy.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2014 9:11 PM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:11:18 -0400

None. That stuff doesn't happen on submarines.

Response by 1stSgt Ron Gallegos made Oct 26 at 2014 9:36 PM

1stSgt Ron Gallegos — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:36:22 -0400

Kidd Rock is the only one I saw, many others came by but I was always busy with Convoys. Even President Bush for Thanksgiving. The side of BIAP was closed off and we had Turkey Loaf.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 27 at 2014 8:20 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:20:21 -0400

We had a whole lot of nothing come to visit us during my time here... Either no one likes FOB Shank (or they were scared of the mortars), or that is part of being here during the draw-down.

Response by LT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 27 at 2014 1:42 PM

LT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:42:37 -0400

No one. But then again, I did volunteer for submarine service, so I guess I got what I expected.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 27 at 2014 2:09 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:09:17 -0400

On Christmas 2003, Robin Williams and some other folks visited Bahrain. Angelina Jolie visited the Victory Base Complex twice while I was there - once as UNHCR rep and the other as a celebrity. The cast of "The Unit" also visited and I was on their flight out (C-130) to Kuwait. Got a picture of my co-worker with them (she was a *huge* fan!)

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 27 at 2014 5:46 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:46:44 -0400

Carrie Underwood came to Balad in 2006. That was kinda cool.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 27 at 2014 5:53 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:53:10 -0400

We had some ladies from some crappy reality show called army wives or something. We also had the Patriots Cheerleaders and a couple retired NFL players

Response by Sgt Jonathan Davis made Oct 27 at 2014 7:06 PM

Sgt Jonathan Davis — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 19:06:18 -0400

I was deployed to Al Asad air station in 2007-08 for my second deployment. It was a nice base, so I considered myself pretty lucky. That said, I have you all beat though this probably doesn't stick strictly to the spirit of the question.

One day, out of the blue, my unit, the one assigned to base security during the deployment, was tasked with overseeing security for a VIP that had everyone in a buzz. Not me and my squad of course. We worked an entry control point feeling up third-party nationals and checking trucks for bombs for a living. Come to find out, though, that the VIP was actually the POTUS George W. Bush. I had friends in other companies who actually guarded him during the deployment. One guy I knew, the radio operator, was sent to do something away from the President's motorcade, if it is still called that in Iraq, for a few minutes. When he got back they were moving out. I am pretty sure he got a cercom for that. Don't ask me how he was rewarded for being left behind by the President, but it was a funny story.

Did I see him? No. Like I said, feeling up TCNs and huntin' bombs.

If you really don't like that story because the President isn't really a celeb, I guess... Chuck Norris was also there too.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Oct 27 at 2014 7:14 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 19:14:25 -0400

My first tour (03-04), Al Asad was still too remote and dangerous to get to for most USO shows. To my memory, we had 3 USO shows come out and, to me, one of them really didn't count. We had some no name comics come through over the summer of 2003 and in the fall, Drew Carey's show came through (only major performer to come west back then). The 82nd Airborne Chorus came out as well.....but since they were soldiers, I don't really count them as a USO show.

My second tour in Iraq (09-10), I was on CP Bucca (before it closed), then Cp Cropper on Victory Compound. At Bucca we had the Sacramento Kings cheerleaders come visit. That was a fun show. On Cropper, Five Finger Death Punch did a show on next door CP Sather (but I didn't go). I caught Whitney Duncan at FOB Prosperity. There were a bunch of other shows at Cp Liberty, but since they were on the opposite side of Victory Compound, I never got to go out there for shows.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2014 1:36 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 01:36:51 -0400

Zach Brown Band, and five finger death punch