Our NFL/USO tour wrapped up with a packed schedule! After a busy day on Friday visiting three bases, FOB Ghormach, FOB Griffin and Camp Spann, we spent Friday night at Camp Spann. After a good night of sleep we got up Saturday for breakfast with our transportation, two Blackhawk helicopters, waiting for us to continue our visits to the bases. We visited four bases on Saturday, starting with FOB Khelegey, then it was off to FOB Kunduz, followed by FOB Hairatan and finally Camp Deh Dadi II.
An amazing thing happened at Camp Deh Dadi II while we were having dinner. As we were finishing up and mingling with the troops, I was talking to a group of soldiers and glanced over at another table and saw that face of a young woman that I thought that I recognized, sitting with two young men. The young woman approached me and said, "You probably don't remember me but I was one of your Straight "A" scholarship winners several years back." My Foundation recognizes high school seniors each year who show a high level of academic and athletic success while overcoming adversity. Her name is Jeralee Hartman and she attended Western Brown High School (near Cincinnati). She then proceeded to tell me that the other two men that she was sitting with were also from Cincinnati. Wow, what a small world!!!
Our final stop on Saturday night in Afghanistan was back to Mazar-E-Sharif/Camp Marmal. As you may remember, this was our first stop when we arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday. We spent the night here on Saturday with plans to return to Qatar on Sunday but our transportation was delayed, so it turned into a day of relaxation which was appreciated after two very busy days. We ended up flying out of Afghanistan at 3:00am Monday and traveled to Doha, Qatar, where we rested for about seven hours before returning to the United States. After all of the traveling and time changes, I arrived in Cincinnati at 10am and headed straight for some coffee so that I could stay up late enough to get back on Eastern time!
This was an incredibly humbling trip and I am thankful for the opportunity to make the trip. I want to say THANK YOU to all of our troops and I am grateful to each of you that I met during this journey.
If you would like to learn more about my travels or my Foundation, please become a fan on Facebook or follow me on Twitter! And again, thanks to the NFL, the USO and everyone who worked so hard to put this visit together. It's something I'll never forget.
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What an experience our USO tour has been already, and we’re just getting started. After beginning our tour in Qatar, we left Thursday morning for a five-hour flight on a C-130 military transport. The cockpit on this plane was much larger than the plane we checked out in Qatar—this one, I could actually fit in! I took advantage of the chance to ride in the cockpit for most of the trip. I loved seeing the pilots-eye-views of the landscape.
Our trip took us to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marmal in Afghanistan, where we took a quick tour and did a meet and greet with the troops. Again, it’s such an honor to be able to meet the men and women who serve our country. They are thanking us for making the trip, when at the same time we are thanking them for their service. It’s very humbling to see everything they do for us.
By the way, I keep referring to ‘we’ in our travels, so I need to introduce my NFL traveling partners on this trip: former Steeler running back Merrill Hoge, now with ESPN, is joining us, along with former NFL linebacker and executive Matt Millen, who’s also back in the broadcast booth. Millen got a nice surprise here: His son, Marcus is an Army first lieutenant serving in Afghanistan, and Marcus was able to travel to meet his dad during one of our stops.
Friday morning, we left FOB Marmal on Black Hawk helicopters for FOB Ghormach, which is in a very secluded area of the country. It’s very rare for the troops here to get visitors and because of that they are a very close group. Then it was back in the helicopters for a stop at FOB Griffin, then another short trip to FOB Spann. Each time we stopped at one of the bases, we toured their facilities then had a meet and greet, signed autographs and took pictures. And at each stop, we wanted to hear their stories, and they wanted to hear about the NFL. So far, the hot topic is the upcoming draft!
And you never know who you’ll run into at these stops. At one of the FOBs I met a young man, named Mays, who is a 1997 graduate of Mason High School just north of Cincinnati and who lives about three minutes from my own home. At each visit, the troops have been so appreciative, especially at the bases in the remote areas. We always tell them how much we, and everybody back home, appreciate what they do for us.
Busy day, but it was so very rewarding. I am so blessed to be able to be on this tour. We’ll visit three or four more bases tomorrow, so I’ll tell you about them in my next blog. I expect the stories to be just as compelling and inspiring as the ones we’ve heard so far.
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Greetings from Qatar! I am so excited and humbled to be on the NFL tour of the Middle East to support our troops. When we left the States it was Monday and when we arrived it was Tuesday night after a 14 hour flight—lost a whole day with the time change!
While we're on this tour, we get to see what our troops do to protect our freedom. And they do so much every day. Once we got settled in, we had breakfast with Colonel Kubinek from the U.S. Air Force and took a tour of a B-1 bomber. I was able to climb upstairs, but I couldn't quite squeeze into the cockpit—I guess we can scratch 'pilot' off my list of second careers! I did sign a bomb that was loaded onto the plane, though.
We also got to talk with a crew that had just landed after a 13-hour tour. What they do during their tours is so impressive, and they are all so humble about it. They say it's just part of their job, but it's really so much more.
Later, we had lunch in the mess hall where there was plenty of food and we sat with the troops and got to talk with them about their experiences. A little bit later the base set up a meet and greet in an outdoor tent area for an hour, and we took pictures and signed autographs for our men and women in uniform. What a thrill to be able to chat with them!
After that we traveled to an area called "Ordnances and Bombs"—where they make the bombs. We watched the crew assemble one and got to sign that one, too. We saw all of the assembled bombs lined up and learned how they are stored. This is important behind the scenes work that we don't always think of, but it's just as vital as the front line troops.
Once we had dinner, we had another meet and greet for an hour at the outdoor tent facility for photos and autographs. The great thing from today--I got to meet fans from Lexington, KY, Dayton OH and of course from Cincinnati—Kings High and West High, to be specific. The not-so-great thing—most people are either Steelers, Raiders or Cowboy fans! (I've got to work on that while I'm here)
Tomorrow we are leaving at 5a.m. to travel to a new base. Looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends, and I'll tell you all about it in my next blog. See you then!
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