NAS JAX, Fla. – For service members serving thousands of miles from home, often in combat zones, a visit to the USO can be a reminder of home.
Click here for all Help on the Homefront coverage.
The organization operates locations from airport terminals to overseas bases, including a center outside Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The USO offers a place to relax, play games, watch TV and connect with others, volunteers and veterans say.
“Shooting pool, playing games, snacks, watching TV. Back then we didn’t have computers,” Bob Neely, a Vietnam veteran who served 22 years in the Army, said.
He recalled time spent at the USO during the war.
“It helps to give you a feeling of being home when you’re not there.”
Soldiers were singing karaoke at a USO in Kuwait last year, underscoring how active-duty troops continue to use the centers today.
“The younger soldiers or sailors, it’s their first time away from home, they’re alone, they don’t have any family — and the USO helps to give them a nice place where they can sit back, relax, talk with people,” Neely said.
Jenny Lyon, a Navy veteran and USO volunteer, said the support matters to mission readiness.
“The more support you have, the better you do your job, and that’s what they are all about,” she said.
For Military Appreciation Month, News4JAX is partnering with Navy Federal Credit Union and the USO for Help on the Homefront, a donation campaign to collect items for care packages. Donors can drop off approved goods at local Navy Federal branches.
Suggested items include granola bars, fruit snacks and boxed macaroni and cheese, which can be assembled into care packages and sent overseas.