Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service(59)
Throughout my entire life, I’d always been the type of person who chose to act—not in the theater sense of the word, although I did a lot of that. I mean take action. Whether it was starting a band that lip-synced for a living room full of neighborhood kids, or working with my fellow high school students to fashion our own theater company, or taking a great production to New York, or moving out to Los Angeles so I could work in the movies—I’d never been the kind of guy who sat around and talked, or wondered, or thought about stuff without doing something about it, at least not for long. My response had always been to take action—and hopefully doing so would benefit other people along the way.
In those early months of 2003, I realized like never before the cost of freedom, and I knew freedom needed to be defended. I knew places existed in our world without freedom, and I knew that without freedom, none of the good and fulfilling ways we in America aspired to live our lives would be possible. This realization helped fuel me more than ever before. It made me profoundly grateful for being an American, able to live in this land of freedom, able to make something of my life. When it came to my service, I wanted to be all in, all the time, living out my calling every single day for the rest of my life.
I can most certainly say that what happened to our country on September 11 broke my heart and changed me forever. It forced me to rethink everything. What do I really believe? How do I want to raise my kids? What kind of example do I want to set for them? What can I do to give back to this great country I love? How can I use my good fortune to help? It was a turning point and marked the beginning of a new level of service. I found that the more I gave, the more I healed.
Two months after watching the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down, I was on a plane to Kuwait.
Nothing would ever be the same.
CHAPTER 11
A Bridge Between Worlds
Hi, I’m Gary Sinise, and I’d like to go on a USO tour. Please call me back.” I left my number on the voice mail.
A couple of weeks went by; all I heard were crickets. I concluded the USO must receive a large volume of calls with requests similar to mine, so I called again and left a second message. (This was April 2003, and fax machines were still big, so I sent a fax too.) “Hi, I’m Gary Sinise, and I’d like to go on a USO tour to support the troops. Please get back to me.”
Chirp, chirp. Those crickets were deafening.
The United Service Organizations (USO) has been around since 1941, and the driving purpose is to enable Hollywood celebrities and volunteer entertainers to go to wherever troops are—both domestically and overseas—and help boost morale. USO representatives say hello, shake hands, scribble autographs, and put on live shows. Most of all, USO reps bring messages of affirmation and encouragement from back home.
Many famous entertainers have been part of USO tours over the years. In World War II and on into the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, USO reps included Abbott and Costello, Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Humphrey Bogart, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Marlene Dietrich, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Connie Stevens, Raquel Welch, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Laurel and Hardy, Ann-Margret, Glenn Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Raye, Ginger Rogers, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, Fats Waller, John Wayne, many others, and, of course, Bob Hope.
In more recent years, USO entertainers have included Trace Adkins, Drew Carey, Jay Leno, Steve Martin, Marie Osmond, Sinbad, Bruce Willis, Robin Williams, Jessica Simpson, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Kellie Pickler, Wayne Newton, and many more.
When I called in 2003, this was before CSI: NY. So I concluded the USO didn’t know who I was. Although I’d done a lot of movies by then, I was still mostly known for one role. I called again in May and left a third message—this time more strategic. “Hi, this is Gary Sinise calling again. I’d like to go on a USO tour. I want to do as much as I can to support the troops. Please call me back. Oh, by the way, I’m the guy who played Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump.” Simultaneously, I asked my publicist, Staci Wolfe, to help me double-team them, and she reached out to them as well.
A representative from the USO returned my call the very next day. A big USO tour was coming up the following month, she explained. Would I like to be a part of it?
I grinned. “Absolutely. Lieutenant Dan would be happy to go.”
Called “Project Salute,” the upcoming tour marked the first largescale USO visit to the Persian Gulf region since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. More than 180 entertainers would come along. Signed up already were Wayne Newton, Kid Rock, Alyssa Milano, Leeann Tweeden, Brittany Murphy, Lee Ann Womack, Neal McCoy, Paul Rodriguez, John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, the hip-hop band Nappy Roots, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, football players, basketball players, and many more. Even Robert De Niro was set to show up midway through the tour.
I was really looking forward to this trip, wanting to do my part to support and thank our troops for defending us, and to let them know we were thinking about them. I’d never been to a war zone before and didn’t know what to expect, or what exactly I would see or do once we got to Iraq. But I was ready to go. On June 16, 2003, I flew from L.A. to Washington, DC, where tour members gathered for the first time. A few performers looked as excited as I felt, but mostly we all just shook hands and climbed aboard the plane, a donated 747 from Northwest Airlines, and headed overseas. I was an actor who wanted to do something positive for the troops. I had no other plans.