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CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait (March 11, 2008) - For more than four
hours last night, Camp Buehring, in the middle of the Kuwaiti
desert, became a hard-rocking outdoor amphitheater.
Before the music began, about 5,000 servicemembers heard a
message of support and appreciation from President Bush. Both Lt.
Gen. James J. Lovelace, commander of U.S. Army Central and Combined
Forces Land Component Command, and his deputy, Maj. Gen. Dennis E.
Hardy, visited with the performers and thanked them for their
support.
Then, before comedian Carlos Mencia got the troops laughing, he
gave them some words of thanks.
"You guys work every single day doing a job that other people
would never even dream of doing," he said. "You do it proudly, and
you do it with a smile, and I salute all of you."
Mencia's job was to keep the troops in stitches between music
sets by Disturbed, Filter, the Pussycat Dolls, and actress/singer
Jessica Simpson, a job at which he more than succeeded.
Then it was DJ Z-Trip's turn to crank up the volume on some
special mixes.
The troops' reactions to the rock groups were quite different
from they way they reacted to Simpson and the Pussycat Dolls. The
latter groups elicited shouts of appreciation, and even marriage
proposals.
There was no doubt the troops were excited to have the
entertainers come all the way out to Kuwait just to perform for
them.
"Yeah, it's breaking my heart," Indiana Army National Guardsman
Staff Sgt. Brad Thurman joked, adding that he's looking forward to
seeing Disturbed. "We'll enjoy it. We weren't expected to be here,
(but) they changed us going north (to Iraq)."
Air Force Tech Sgt. Marcus Waller, deployed from MacDill Air
Force Base, Fla., expressed gratitude for the celebrities'
appearance.
"I just want to give a big thanks to Carlos Mencia, the Pussycat
Dolls and the various artists coming out in support of our troops,"
Waller said. "We really appreciate it. It's good to see faces,
people thinking about us. As a whole, the U.S. military, we want to
give you a big, 'Thanks.'"
The artists turned the tables, saying the visit and their
interactions with the troops profoundly impacted them.
"This has been a life-changing experience for us," Nicole
Scherzinger, lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, said.
Simpson pointed out what the troops' service means to her. "What
you guys represent is true sacrifice," she told the troops before
singing her last number.
The other groups said they were honored to be performing for the
troops and greatly impressed by the experience.
"We're coming over here to play rock music, and Frank's in the
military, said Richard Patrick, lead vocalist for Filter. "Let's
bridge the two worlds and let everybody know it's really one
world."
"Frank" is Sgt. Frank Cavanagh, Filter's former bass player,
who's now an Army reservist getting ready to deploy.
Disturbed's members were just happy to be able to take their
support of the troops directly to the military members.
"We're happy that we finally have the opportunity to get out
here and talk the talk … and play for the troops and do what we
said we've been meaning to do for the longest time. We're feeling
really, really good about it," Disturbed's vocalist David Draiman
said.
Z-Trip said he couldn't process all that was happening to him at
Camp Buehring. "I'm probably going to be digesting this on the
flight back," he said. "It'll probably all settle and make
sense."
As the show concluded, all of the artists came to the stage to
join Simpson in singing "God Bless America."
The concert, presented by MySpace, a social networking Web site,
was streamed live on the MySpace site at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight
Time. It was presented in cooperation with Armed Forces
Entertainment, a group that brings entertainment programs to
deployed forces, and the Defense Department's America Supports You
program, which connects citizens and companies with servicemembers
and their families worldwide.
Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals,
groups and organizations that are helping support the troops,
visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America
Supports You directly connects military members to the support of
the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their
quest to find meaningful ways to support the military
community.
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