Sinise Embarks On Sixth USO Tour

Gary Sinise is currently on his sixth United Service Organizations tour, taking his band Lt. Dan around the United States to perform for the men and women in the military.

PR Newswire, the tour began on June 20th and will conclude on the first of July. Among the stops on the tour are Fort Polk in Louisiana, Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas, Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and the new USO center at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Sinise has been a tireless supporter of the U.S. troops, even founding a charity, Operation Iraqi Children, with Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand (story). The money raised by Operation Iraqi Children will go towards rebuilding Iraqi schools.

Sinise, who has visited the troops in Diego Garcia, Singapore,Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Germany, Italy and Fort Stewart in Georgia in just the past year alone, has also gone on several talk shows to show his support for the troops and to urge others to do so as well. On Good Day Live on June 8th (via Elyse's CSI Site), Sinise spoke about how important he feels it is for everyone to be supportive of the military. "I support the soldiers. Every president has to send our soldiers somewhere, right? No matter who they are," Sinise pointed out. "So no matter who's in the White House, we have volunteers who are willing to volunteer to go into harm's way in defense of the country. I went to Iraq to support the troops, and when I went there, I saw what they were doing besides getting shot at and blown up. They took me out to the school that they'd rebuilt, so I thought, how can I help support these folks?"

Sinise emphasized the need to put politics aside when thinking of both the troops and the children in Iraq. "What's important is that we do the best we can to be successful. What's going to be better for the world, if we fail or succeed? Well, I think it's going to be better for the United States, and the Iraqis, and the world if we have a successful effort there in some way," Sinise said of the troops' efforts to rebuild Iraqi schools.

On May 30th, Sinise told Dennis Miller on The Dennis Miller Show (via Elyse's CSI Site) that the Lt. Dan Band performed recently in Singapore, Korea, and Diego Garcia, where the troops recognized him from his Oscar-nominated role as Lieutentant Dan in Forrest Gump. "When I go on the trips for the troops, they all scream 'Lt. Dan' at me," he said.

To read the complete article about the Lt. Dan Band tour, please visit PR Newswire; to read the talk show transcripts, please visit Elyse's CSI Site!

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