Sinise Shows His Appreciation For The US Military

CSI: New York‘s leading man Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) uses his fame and his love for music to give back to American troops.

When Sinise has free time off from filming New York, he likes to travel around to military bases to entertain the men and women who serve in the US military. The actor performs as part of the Lt Dan band, which is named after his iconic role in Forrest Gump. “You probably don’t expect too much from an actor with a band,” Sinise told the Orlando Sentinel. “But this isn’t like me writing music and asking people to hear my music. We’re a cover band put together to entertain folks and give them a good time by playing songs they’ll like.”

The Lt Dan Band is comprised of 12 members. Sinise plays bass for the ensemble, which includes multiple vocalists and even has a horn section. “These are professional folks,” he said. “I’m the only part-timer.”

Sinise’s mission with the Lt Dan Band is simple: he wants service members to know they are appreciated. “If somebody like me who is on television or in the movies can go out there and pat them on the back and let them know that we care about them; then I want to do it,” he explained to DVIDS. “I think that’s a way I can pitch in and help out in difficult times.”

The actor was inspired to do what he could after September 11th. “That was a sad day, I know we have a lot of troops in the service now who joined because of that,” Sinise said. “They were spurred into action, wanting to do something for their country. So was I, but I’m on an old guy, I can’t join the service but I can go out there and meet and greet them and play some music. When we started deploying troops overseas, I just wanted to do something. So I pitched in and started going out there for the troops overseas doing what I could. I just think it is important that they understand that people are backing them up and appreciate their service.”

“We need a strong a military, we need our defenders to stay strong,” he continued. “They’re going to be called upon for years. [We’re] keeping people strong and letting them know that while in they’re in the service we care about them, we appreciate that service. And when they leave the service, we are not going to forget about them.”

Sources: DVIDS and the Orlando Sentinel