Congrats to “I Killed” raffle book winners: Cory Gore, Nicole Frieson and Mark Traversy!!

I have had one heck of a ride the past 30 years. The last twelve have been meeting thousands of our Troops in all corners of the world. I have seen places beautiful, and others remote and hidden which cannot be disclosed as the one I am about to share. I recently received a call from the Army to do two shows in Germany and two different bases Grafenwohr and Vilseck. First thing you do is check your calendar. Second you check flights. Third you try to give yourself a transition rest day between day of arrival and first show, especially when traveling internationally.

Then there are times when the flights are booked, the phone rings, and a Colonel pitches one more show as an add-on for my consideration. “Where Colonel?” I politely ask. “Poland” he replies. We have 400 stationed tank specialists, hidden in a wooded area. Upon landing in Germany we will drive you 7.5 hours to the site and you will perform the next day. So three flights from Las Vegas to Germany six hours of layovers (in NY and Amsterdam) and then…. a 7.5 hour car ride to Poland. 32 hours of continuous travel. Transition rest day gone. .

In life, some decisions take little thought and consideration. If these men and women can be hidden in a remote and isolated area for nine months serving us, we can serve them. I am not going to lie, I wish I were a little sharper on stage this day, or say I hit the ball out of the park. I didn’t. Sometimes it’s just a ground rule double. Travel like this can and will kick your ass and it did mine. But more important to me, was there was no decision to be made regarding the proposal the Army presented to me and what my answer would be. I would make that trip weekly for the chance to say “THANK YOU. I know you are here, WE back home know you are here, and let’s do our best to share a laugh… or two”.

    

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