Christy Brinkley, Terry Bradshaw, and many more - 1999

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Many famous and interesting people have had brushes with me that served to skyrocket their careers to new heights. If they hadn't met me, chances are you never would've heard of them. Sure, many of them were famous before they met me, but that's just how awesome I am: I can improve your career before you've even met me!

Back in 1999, a few days before Christmas, Defense Secretary William Cohen put together his third annual USO tour and filled it to the brim with stars, who put on several shows for those who were on duty in southern Europe. The biggest names among them were Christy Brinkley and Terry Bradshaw, but there were a lot of them. I was aboard the Bataan for one of those shows and got to meet several of the people involved.

Check out these names:

• Bill Cohen (Defense Secretary)
• Terry Bradshaw
• Christie Brinkley
• Mike Singletary
• Wesley Clark (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR), 4-star General, and presidential candidate in 2004)
• Downtown Julie Brown (MTV VJ)
• Ruth Pointer (of the Pointer Sisters)
• Al Franken (political comedian)
• Shane Minor (Country singer)
• John Paul Dejoria (aka Paul Mitchell, richest hair stylist in the world)
• Mary Chapin Carpenter (singer)
• Steve Burton (General Hospital actor)
• Marco Etcheverry (Major Soccer League MVP 1998)
• 6 Dallas Cowgirls, one of whom was Sara Shahi (now in the TV show Fairly Legal)

Here is a link to the official celebration page.

The sound is a bit wonky, and you can’t hear the audience applause for the first part of the show.

Most of the video is from Aviano Airbase, but there are clips from the Bataan. At time 50:25, you see Bradshaw pointing, then it cuts to some cheerleaders dancing, and to the left of them is my “bro”, DS2 Marc Sigmon!

I've got a couple hundred pics, none of which were taken by me, and here's a handful. I think these show everyone, in various states of their appearance. When I get famous (scheduled for next year) I think I'm going to do this too. I'd like to thank those of you who showed up and cheered us up during the holidays while we were thousands of miles away from home. I don't know if you'll ever know how much it meant to us.

 

 

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Additional articles which will interest you:
You Say Piracy Like It’s a Bad Thing
How to Talk Like a Trucker
What we mean when we say we will never forget

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