DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The USO tour left the hotel here before dawn on a
Friday and over the duration of the itinerary flew three hours on a 737 to
Bagram Airbase in northern Afghanistan, went from Bagram to a pair of smaller
U.S. military installations in the country by helicopter, choppered back to
Bagram, by 737 from Bagram to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, had a 45-minute
layover without deplaning and, finally, from Kandahar to Dubai, where it all
started.
It was a Tuesday afternoon, and it was over. Five days, thousands of miles in
the air in various machines, a few more in shuttle busses that hauled them
around the base in Bagram, several kidneys and a couple vertebrae donated
without consent to canyons in the road some liberally, but very mistakenly,
called potholes. The itinerary for retired players Sam Perkins and Caron Butler,
NBA Vice President of Referee Operations Bob Delaney and Ivory Latta of the
WNBA’s Washington Mystics while All-Star weekend played out in New Orleans had
been both exhausting and exhilarating and everything in between.
Now Perkins stood at the baggage carousel in the Dubai airport, waiting with the
group to claim their luggage before a car ride to the hotel where they had
originally gathered. Some would check in for a few hours as a brief stop before
catching red-eyes headed north and west, over Europe, over the Atlantic, bound
for various destinations in the United States, some stayed the night.
Perkins was the one who, minutes after arriving in Afghanistan, so soon that he
was still basically a 3-pointer away from the chartered 737 as troops greeted
the VIPs, said, “You’re just in it now. It’s just surreal.” When it was over, he
would define the visit.
I had gone on another USO trip about five months ago, but we went on a tour. You
didn’t really stay in one place. We went to Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan, in the
same place we just visited. We met the soldiers in different places, not only
American soldiers, but Romanian soldiers as well, the Czechs. It was like more
of tour. We had band members, celebrities from Hollywood and myself and my
daughter. We just kind of schmoozed and got to know a lot of people in a short
span of time because we were in a rush. But this time it was more of a real
feel, because you got to personally know some guys and some of their stories.
It’s always good to have a story they would find interesting. They were
interested.
It was what I expected. But with the fanfare and the events, you got to know
them even more personally. You would get to know people. That’s what happened.
It was a different perspective from the prior trip I took. That was more about
the signing and signing autographs. This was more personal.
It’s almost like the people that we got to know through this whole duration, I
guess they were in a way wishing we wouldn’t go. But we knew the day would come
for us to depart. I think we really got close to them, got connected to them, so
when you land somewhere else and leave that behind you kind of reflect a little
bit about what took place.
A soldier said to me when he saw us the other day that he’s had a trying time
getting through this (time in Afghanistan). With us coming, he did a reset. I
think that helped him a great deal, so he can now push through for another six
months because the trying times and Groundhog Days and every day is the same
thing. When he said that to me, that made me feel that we were there for a
purpose. Whether we take it lightly or not or we think we can or cannot make a
difference or not, we made a difference with one person at least.
I guess we’re all mentors in some way, in some aspect. Just hearing that, it
makes you feel good. But knowing that this trip was important, more important
than being at the All-Star Game, I think we were medicine to some. We were here
for a purpose and that’s what we came for. We all kind of connected with one
another and made it more worthwhile for them. Just the interaction.
The basketball, the games, the coaching, laughing with the guys and women, just
sitting down and having lunch or dinner with them. Just seeing us there made it
more special to them. And like I said before, the importance of having somebody
around just to boost your morale and confidence, it makes it all worthwhile. We
don’t know what outcome that may be for a person, but I’m glad I came.
The realness of the soldiers will stay with me. They’re just like you and I
except, from talking to them, they all willfully signed up to come, to protect
and serve the country. No one asked them to be there. No one told them to come.
They came of their own conscience. That’s probably going to stand out to me as
much as anything because I’m grateful for what they do and what they stand for.
They all have hardships while they’re serving, but at the same time they take
pride.
You’re a badass when you’re carrying around a gun all day, so I respect that.
But the women are more interesting. I’ve never seen so many women take pride in
doing something different, instead of worrying about being glam all the time or
being about themselves. They did it for whatever reasons, but they’re doing it
because of their country. They have families as well. All these people we
connected with all have families and they love them to death and they want to
get back to them, but they know that there’s something at stake and they want to
do the job with pride.
When I took the first trip, it changed me. It made me think about a lot of
things. All the things that are going on in the United States, people have their
own way of respecting the flag and respecting the soldiers. They’re all doing it
in a good, positive way. Some people take it in a negative, disenchanted way,
but I think overall, when I get back, when I come back from these trips, it
makes you think about the people you connected with. The faces. The
conversations we had. What we talked about. We talked about everyday things,
everyday life and perspective. We had some things in common that were able to
connect.
They’re ordinary guys and women that are over there fighting. They worry all the
time. They don’t, probably, show it a lot. It’s all right to do that. But at the
same time, they show pride in what they do. And they do it to the fullest. I’ll
always remember them no matter what and hopefully we can see them on the other
side.
