The USO has opened its first center in Iraq, right in the heart of the combat zone at our big air base near Balad.

General David Petraeus is pictured above with Ned Powell, the USO’s president and CEO, during opening of this new USO center. This center is just North of Baghdad which will serve our troops right where they need USO services the most. The soldiers had dubbed the area where this center opened “Mortaritaville”, because of its history of frequent mortar and rocket attacks. The 2,300 square-foot facility offers our men and women in uniform a comfortable lounge where they can forget about the war for a few precious moments and enjoy entertainment from home, such as video games, DVDs, movies and more.

There’s also a Cyber Café with free Internet and email access, plus telephone service with prepaid phone cards, so our troops can call home for free to hear the delightful sound of their child’s voice or to have a comforting chat with a friend or loved one.

If you’d like to learn more about this USO Balad Center or any of their other centers visit this link: USO locations. They also offer a great directory of resources for veterans you can find here: Veterans directory.