| ARLINGTON, Va. – National Football League (NFL) players Will Shields, Shelton Quarles, Alge Crumpler and Ben Watson will soon embark on their first USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour to the Persian Gulf. Shields (Kansas City Chiefs), Quarles (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) Crumpler, (Atlanta Falcons) and Watson (New England Patriots) will meet with service members and sign autographs.
This tour continues a partnership between the NFL and the USO that began more than 40 years ago. In the past four decades, NFL stars, including Don Meredith, Larry Csonka, Dick Butkus, Gene Upshaw, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Mike Singletary, have visited troops on USO/AFE tours to such locations as Somalia, Bosnia, Korea, Japan, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Last year, the “The USO and NFL 40th Anniversary Tour” traveled to Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, and aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. NFL players Bryce Fisher (Seattle Seahawks), Patrick Kerney (Atlanta Falcons) and Max Starks (Pittsburgh Steelers) met with service members at various locations in the region to provide a morale boost to troops stationed far from home.
This tour also continues the USO tradition of bringing celebrities and sports figures to service members serving far from home. Football stars who have recently made trips for the USO include legendary coach Lou Holtz, Louisiana State University football coach Les Miles, Larry Izzo and Warrick Dunn.
USO tours are sponsored by AT&T, Inc., the official telecommunications sponsor of USO entertainment tours.
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Armed Forces Entertainment is the lead Department of Defense agency for providing entertainment to U.S. military personnel serving overseas, with priority given to those in contingency operations and at remote and isolated locations. The Department of the Air Force is the executive agent of Armed Forces Entertainment.
Founded in 1951, Armed Forces Entertainment brings a touch of home to more than 500,000 troops annually, embracing the best of Americana that stretches across all genres of entertainment. Visit www.armedforcesentertainment.com for more information.
About the USO: For more than 66 years, the USO (United Service Organizations) has been providing morale, welfare and recreational services to U.S. military personnel and their families. The USO is a nonprofit, charitable organization, relying on the generosity of the American people to support its programs and services. The USO is supported by Worldwide Strategic Partners AT&T Inc., BAE Systems North America, Clear Channel Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, Military Channel, S & K Sales Co., TriWest Healthcare Alliance and The Walt Disney Company. Other corporate donors, including the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-0600), have joined thousands of individual donors to support the USO. For more information on the USO, please visit our Web site at www.uso.org.
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