Happy 75th birthday to the USO

I keenly remember peering into the Chicago O’hare USO then turning my gaze down at my brand new combat boots. I was 19 years old and knew everything about life ??. My boots were sewade. Our battalion at MCRD Parris Island was one of the first to get these service boots, not the black leather boots that had been in service for decades. Spit-shining boots was now folklore, something the senior Marines would hold over our heads, always prefaced with, “Back in my day…". My boots were barley scuffed from my month long tour at Marine Combat Training at Camp Johnson, NC. In my mind, however, they had miles on them. I felt like I was inching towards Chesty Puller or Etool Smith’s legacy. I stood there for a moment, feeling a blend of adrenaline and pride because I had been anticipating the day I’d be welcomed into the USO. I walked through the USO doors with a Marine corps stride.

It may just look like a random airport room full of old leather couches and recliners - but it is so much more. It is a place to for our military to leave the weight of the world at the door. A place to forget about rigorous training and focus on themselves, the loved ones they left behind or even zone out on video games. What many don't see are the great things the USO does beyond it's brick and mortar.

For me the USO was a rite of passage. It was a place that required certain credentials: an eagle globe and anchor pressed firmly into my hand, basic Marine Corps knowledge and skills, the feeling of getting thrashed with my 70 recruit brothers, and being given just enough leash to fail towards leadership.

The USO crossed my radar before my time in the Marines so it gave me something to think about before becoming a Marine. It was another group I instantly became a part of - elite to only those in uniform. At bootcamp after lights out one night, we laid in our racks and talked about what we were going to do when we got home. My bunk mate started fantasizing about Pizza Hut, as per usual, but I remarked “Ya know, now we can go hang out in the USOs all around the world and just relax now”. There might have been a slight-remark or two, but even now thinking about the USO, it is still just as nostalgic.

The time quickly passed during my five years in the Marine Corps. Two tours to Iraq, time in Okinawa and some incredible schools I was fortunate enough to attend. Each new place I stepped off an airplane I'd start my hunt for the local USO. I felt like I was a USO connoisseur. Rating the quality of the cookies served or how many recliners and bunks each USO had. Late one evening, on a long Kansas City layover I remember trying to convince the USO volunteer to let me connect my computer to the TV so we could watch videos from it. We had everyone laughing at some of the early video content that existed at the time - way before the GoPro and around the birth of YouTube. 

I have been a civilian since 2007 and it's been awhile since I have been to a USO. Its funny, as I write this post recalling USO memories, I am sitting on a plane from DC to LAX. My fiancé sitting next to me and asked, “What is the USO”? I think I am going to put on those old sewade combat boots and hunt down the LAX USO. I'll let her see first hand how much joy it brings to those who raise their right hand to our flag.