USO staff, volunteers make military holiday travel merry
As an estimated 1,200 GIS prepared to fly home for the holidays, USO San Antonio volunteers welcomed them at the airport as if they were family.
When the soldiers pushed open the glass doors, volunteer Elizabeth Hutchinson, 55, greeted them with a cheery, “Good morning!” Retired Army Staff Sgt. Johnny Casella, 67, joined her at the plexiglass-shielded counter to offer tidings of joy. Retired U.S. diplomatic service member Anthony Woods, 60, shared the amenities available at the USO located in the baggage claim area of Terminal B.
Across from a potted red poinsettia were complimentary coffee, tea, snacks and a microwave. A string of tinsel looped around a wooden wall unit with compartments filled with bags and luggage. A Christmas tree twinkled in a corner. Three flat-screen TVS hung above a long bookcase next to a bank of video screens.
Three soldiers were curled up in plush recliners at sunrise Saturday and catnapped as they waited to take flights. Pfc. Cortney Allen, 20, was headed to Michigan. Pvt. Tana Armstrong, 18, was on her way to Ohio. Pvt. Nicole Osborne, 18, was home-bound to New Hampshire.
The trio is training to be nurses at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Fort Sam Houston. They’d stayed up all night, so they’d be on time for their bus to the airport for exodus — a decadesold annual military tradition that began last Friday evening and ends today.
Armstrong said the warm ambiance felt like home. Osborne said it was nice to have a break from the bustling crowds.
“We love it,” she said. “It’s so crowded out there, and this is so welcoming.”
Allen was also impressed. She said the volunteers “treated us like their kids.”
The volunteers dedicated their shifts to the soldiers who arrived under drizzling rain at the airport in the pre-dawn hours. The USO is a rallying point for thousands of active duty military and their families to use throughout the year as they wait to board flights from the Alamo city.
Volunteers operate the airport
location, open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eleven staff members work at San Antonio sites, including two at Fort Sam Houston and a center at Brooke Army Medical Center. In addition, there are three satellites at Camp Bullis, complete with morale services.
Heather Krauss, executive director of USO San Antonio, oversees operations of the nonprofit whose mission extends to Del Rio and border towns. She said an important element is stewarding donations to the nonprofit into direct services that impact military members and their families.
Krauss said volunteers would help 5,000 military students and permanent party personnel during the holidays.
“We couldn’t operate a huge event like exodus without the help of our dedicated volunteers and sponsors,” Krauss said. “They give us the ability to provide these services and make the soldiers’ travel a little less stressful.”
Krauss, mother of an airman and soldier, said after the exodus, volunteers and staff would shift their focus to Holidays for Heroes, a program for the stay-behind population who can’t get home for the holidays. Free activities include a visit with St. Nick, decorating events on Christmas Eve and attending a San Antonio Spurs game.
“The thing we don’t want is for them to feel they have to spend the holiday by themselves,” Krauss said. “We want to make sure they
don’t have that sense of missing their families.”
During a four-hour shift, the three volunteers offered a helping hand to the stream of camouflageclad active duty members, lugging duffle bags, backpacks and luggage.
“This time of year is very hard being away from their homes,” Hutchinson said. “All these people passing through here to go see their families makes me feel good.”
Casella re-checked supplies of food and beverages as if he were on a military mission. He said airports
have exclusive clubs for preferred customers, and active military deserve a hub of their own.
“We’ve got the President’s Club right here,” Casella said. “And it doesn’t cost a dime.”
Woods gave new arrivals a tour of the warmly-lit space.
“Like they say, ‘you give back,’ ” Woods said. “Wherever I’ve been, I’ve always volunteered.”
On Saturday morning, Maj. Gen. Dennis Lemaster, commander of MEDCOE, and several other senior Army staff visited the GIS at the airport and USO center. After talking to each one, he wished
them a “Merry Christmas” and safe travels.
“They’re going home as soldiers,” Lemaster said. “This is one of the highlights of my time here. It’s a chance for the soldiers and staff to take a moment, refresh and recharge. When they come back, it’s game on until next Thanksgiving.”
Mario Ayapan, USO Airport Center operations supervisor, said it takes contributions from many partners to serve visiting airmen, coast guardsmen, Marines, sailors, soldiers and guardians.
“We get a lot of support for this,” Ayapan said, “from the city, donors and other companies who donate the goods. It’s a huge help. All of this happened because a lot of people came together to make it happen.”
The USO set up two satellite stations at the airport: one in Terminal A and the other in Terminal B. Volunteers at each site offered snacks and gift wrapping, a 15-year tradition. Wrapped presents aren’t allowed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. Once through airport security, those with gifts could get items wrapped by volunteers.
Volunteer Thelma Parker, 78, an airport ambassador, had silver, shiny and striped paper ready atop an unused ticket counter at Gate 16, near the end of Terminal A. She said her first guest was a young soldier from Florida who asked if she could wrap a teddy bear he’d bought for his sister.
Parker recalled the trainee said the military allowed him to make enough money to buy a present for the first time. She triple covered the present to protect it during the soldier’s flight. After all of her meticulous care, Parker said he pushed the stuffed toy into a jumble of items in his rucksack. Parker chuckled.
She wasn’t upset, just happy she could offer an act of kindness to military members during the holidays.
“It’s one little bit to give them for what they’re doing for us,” Parker said. “It’s nice to help young people who are doing something for our country.”