Bill O’Reilly has been on a mission lately to find out why more hollywood celebrities haven’t been participating in USO shows in the war zones we currently have men and women in harms way. I’m glad to see O’Reilly taking this cause on. I’ve wondered the same thing.

My son had told me of a USO show or two when he was stationed in Germany, but he never mentioned any while he was in Iraq. Well, doing a show in Germany is hardly a sacrifice. I’m sure the guys appreciated and enjoyed the shows, but its not like they were stuck in the hell that is (or was) Baghdad. Even in Baghdad, many of the visitors never got to the bases that were in the most need of a little break from the dire circumstances in which the guys lived.

USOMy beloved curmudgeon has told me of USO shows he saw, or almost saw, in Vietnam. As we all know, Bob Hope would take groups of high profile celebrities and lots of beautiful women. The one show I remember beloved curmudgeon telling me about barely got started before bombing started, ending the show. He never got to see the show, but at least Bob Hope and the celebrities had tried to get to the guys who needed to have a little bit of relief from that nasty jungle war, if only for an hour or so.

I had figured that I had just not heard of the USO shows. Surely they had them. I knew that some celebrities had gone over there on their own. I’ve blogged about a few of them, like Gary Sinise and Charlie Daniels.

After Bill O’Reilly got back from his recent trip to Afghanistan and talking to the Troops there he has really been on a roll about the USO visiting there. That made me think that maybe my perception of their absence was correct. O’Reilly had the Executive Director of the USO on and questioned him aggressively. The Executive Director was less than impressive and gave me the impression that he was making excuses more than giving explanations. He certainly gave the impression he was not being proactive in booking celebs for that sort of trip. I guess there hasn’t been another Bob Hope to step up to the plate and make it their cause and motivate others to follow through.

Sadly, I couldn’t find any pictures of current celebrities entertaining the troops with the USO. Maybe they are afraid to go into Iraq or Afghanistan. I know it had to be dangerous to go into those areas of Vietnam to entertain troops. They took some chances going to entertain troops in World War II. Maybe the USO just doesn’t have the nerve they used to have. Or maybe the celebs don’t have the guts to go there. Our troops might be the only Americans left with any courage.