By U.S. Army Sgt. William Begley
RC-East PAO
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan— The USO held the grand opening for their new eastside facility located in the new Cherry Beasley Village on Bagram Air Field, Feb. 5.
Before this new facility opened, there was only one USO facility on Bagram Air Field, the Pat Tillman Memorial USO. That was OK for service members on the west side of the base, but the ones on the northeast had to travel by bus or walk to get to the facility.
Priya Butler is acting vice president and director of operations for USO southwest Asia. The San Francisco native served as the master of ceremonies for the grand opening.
“We’ve been trying to provide services on this side of BAF for many years,” said Butler. “The Pat Tillman Memorial USO was built in 2006 and at the time was sufficient for the size of the base. But we outgrew it a long time ago and we wanted to be able to provide a full range of services to the service members, especially on this side of the base who are kind of isolated because of their location. We worked for many years to get this piece of land so that these guys would have a home away from home.”
Sara Lottie is the duty manager at the Bagram Eastside USO, and a native of Chicago. She said this facility is important to the service members on BAF.
“There is nowhere for them to go to relax and be with friends and just get away from work or get away from their room,” said Lottie. “This facility provides that respite for them; it’s their home away from home.”
The new facility is loaded with phones and computers and wireless internet access so service members can connect with loved ones back home. There are televisions to watch and play video games on and a movie theater. There are two reading rooms that are as quiet as a library and a guitar room is coming. There is even a coffee bistro.
There are also three dedicated rooms for the United Through Reading program. The UTR program allows service members to pick out a book from their library and read it to their child back home while being recorded on DVD. Then the DVD and book are mailed back home to the child at no cost.
“This is a big expansion from what we have over at the Pat Tillman Memorial USO. We are open 24 hours a day, which allows more time for people to come in and read to their kids,” said Lottie.
One of the many service members that benefited from the opening of the new USO was U.S. Army Spc. Eugene Amartey, Company A, 700th Brigade Support Battalion, Task Force Thunderbird, a water purification specialist and a native of Ghana, West Africa. Amartey lives in Warrior Village.
“It’s awesome to have a USO open on the Warrior side,” said Amartey. “Now I don’t have to take a bus all the way to the other side of the base to raise my morale.”
Butler said that she would really like to stress that the new facility and the USO are funded by donations from the American public. She said it’s their way to show support for the service members on Bagram Air Field.
Lottie said that one of the greatest compliments a soldier gave was that he didn’t feel like he was over in Afghanistan, he felt like he was home.
“That’s our goal,” said Lottie. “To make them feel at home and put a smile on their face.”
If you would like to become a volunteer, make a donation, or just find out more about the USO, you can visit their website at www.uso.org.
| Date Taken: |
02.05.2012 |
| Date Posted: |
02.07.2012 17:43 |
| Story ID: |
83486 |
| Location: |
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: |
283 |
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0 |
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