The nonprofit long known for flying musical groups and comedians to entertain deployed troops will cut the ribbon on a support center at Fort Campbell Wednesday. The USO was drawn to the post – in part – because it’s been the front line in a battle against soldier suicides.
The Army has continued to break records for the number of soldiers who kill themselves, and for a time in 2009, Fort Campbell was ground zero.
The USO’s 6,000-square-foot facility on post is supposed to be a family-friendly place. No alcohol is allowed. Soldiers can play video games, use the Internet and get a free snack. Kari Burgess Brown is the director.
“We realized there was a need to offer additional support to this post. Now, obviously we’re not counselors or anything like that, but it’s just the USO may be a center that offers comfort.”
Brown says the center will guide soldiers to help. Special business card holders are being mounted inside the bathroom stalls. They will dispense information on how to meet confidentially with a counselor who doesn’t report to the Army.
The USO is known for its lounges at airports around the country. Only in the last few years has it started opening stateside centers on military installations. Others are at Fort Bliss Texas and Fort Leonard Wood Missouri.
Inside Fort Campbell’s center sits a restored Vietnam-era helicopter, custom-fitted with X-Box consoles donated by Microsoft.
The military already has similar recreation programs, and in some ways the USO is duplicating the service. But Brown says the USO does have the ability to go out and get private contributions.
“We as a nonprofit can solicit for donations and the Army can’t do that.”
The USO centers are also a little more removed from military life. Brown says there are no pictures of the President and his generals on the wall.
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