Photo By Spc. Brittany Gardner | The 36th Infantry Division soldiers enjoy front-row entertainment as Chaka Khan...... read more read more
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BASRAH, Iraq – The bass thumped at the old Post Exchange, feet tapped, and hands clapped. Soldiers cheered, danced and sang along to Carvin Jones and Chaka Khan at Contingency Operating Base Basra, July 12, but this wasn’t the first time soldiers have had the chance to enjoy live entertainment here.
They attend these concerts and performances for many different reasons. Some just want to escape their office or containerized housing unit, and other soldiers just want to have some fun.
Lt. Col. Dean Dahle, the U.S. Division-South’s electronic warfare officer-in-charge, said he has been to many of the concerts held here at COB Basra.
“It’s actually a good release from the daily stress or the daily job,” said Dahle, “and you get to have a little fun. I could look around last night and see soldiers were having fun, so that’s why I go.”
Dahle isn’t the only one. Capt. Amie D. Tibbets, U.S. Div.-South resource management deputy, has also attended several of the morale, welfare and recreation events and concerts.
“I’ve gone to quite a few of them,” said Tibbets. “It gets you out of this place for a couple of hours. It just gets you in a different place and it’s a chance to have fun out here instead of work, work, work.”
First Lt. Joshua Mixon, U.S. Div.South programs manager officer-in-charge, plans and coordinates the performers’ visits to COB Basra. He said many of the entertainers say they visit the troops in a deployed environment for some of the same reasons these soldiers joined the Army,
“They want to serve their country,” Mixon said. “It’s typically something they’ve always wanted to do.”
The time and effort these musicians and entertainers put into traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit troops lets him know that people in the United States haven’t forgotten the deployed soldiers, said Sgt. Maj. Kenneth W. Loftin, U.S. Div.-South maintenance sergeant major.
“It does a really good job of letting you know that people back there still care,” said Loftin. “They really do care about the soldiers. I’ve seen that. I look for that when I go to those events.”
Since the 36th Inf. Div. arrived in December 2010, Mixon has helped coordinate, plan and execute over fifty events for U.S. Div.-South. All of which, he says, have gotten a big response from soldiers who attend to escape the grind, or just to unwind.
“It’s an escape from the mundane,” said Mixon. “Every night is the same over here, so it doesn’t matter if it’s Saturday, Sunday, Monday or a Tuesday night. We can still escape through this outlet.”
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.26.2011 08:46 |
| Story ID: | 74331 |
| Location: | BASRA, IQ |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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