Ultimate Cheerleaders (The First Five Years)

In this previous post I relied on a published report that said the Orlando Magic Dancers and the Indiana Pacemates were the only 2 NBA Dance Teams to make overseas trips to visit our troops. This is incorrect.

The Laker Girls have made several morale boosting trips overseas including this trip in 1998 to Task Force Eagle (Adobe Reader required) in Bosnia.

Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment at Camp Dobol got an early Christmas present this year when the Laker Girls arrived to entertain them. Despite numerous flight cancellations and long bus rides to get to Dobol, the Laker Girls gave the troops a show to remember.

The Laker Girls bus pulled up in front of Dobol's Moral, Welfare and Recreation building in the early afternoon. "Who's that on the bus?" was the question passersby
asked.

Although the Laker Girls were scheduled to visit Dobol earlier in the week, the word of their arrival spread quickly. The Laker Girls toured the camp and spent time at the dining facility, where they enjoyed some hot chocolate and interacted with soldiers.

After dinner at the dining facility, they retired to their sleeping quarters for some much needed rest.

Their show was scheduled for later that night. Fifteen minutes before the show the MWR building was packed with soldiers. The only space available was at the front of the building where the girls would perform. Some soldiers stood outside and watched the show through the window. As soon as the first Laker Girl stepped into the building, the crowd of soldiers went wild. Cameras were flashing from all over the place as soldiers vied for the best shot of the girls.

After a brief introduction from Jerry Bupp, MWR director, the Laker Girls began with their show. After the show, the girls autographed and gave out pictures as a token of their appreciation to the soldiers of Operation Joint Forge.

The Washington Wizards Dancers while under the direction of the current Redskins Cheerleaders Choreographer Stephanie Jojokian went on 6 tours over a span of three years.

One of those tours they went with the Redskins Cheerleaders and put on the only NFL/NBA combination show. It was a huge hit and was seen by troops all over the Middle East (including Afghanistan) in 2002.

That's current Redskins Cheerleaders Marketing and Events Coordinator Melanie Treanor on the far left in the back row. Next to Melanie is former Wizards Dancer and current Redskins Cheerleader Jessica.



Wizards Dancer Kelly B. recorded her thoughts and memories including the harrowing plane trip into Afghanistan:

When the question was posed to me, "Will you go over to the Middle East to entertain and boost the morale of our soldiers in the first ever Washington Wizard Dancers and Washington Redskins Cheerleaders Tour?" My first reaction was "No." The question of my safety and being so far from home lingered in my mind but when I remembered that there are thousands of other men and women there that were brave enough to go, I changed my mind.

On November 9th 2002, a select few of the Washington Wizards dance team started a journey that will never be forgotten. When we arrived at the airport, we were two separate teams, Wizards and Redskins, but when we left the airport we were one big family ready to take care of each other. We hugged our loved ones goodbye and jumped on the plane with a look of anxiety because we were going on the other side of the world without knowing what to expect.

After traveling a total of forty-five hours, we finally arrived in Kyrgzstan, and later went to Afghanistan, Oman and Kuwait. Our trip was comprised of shows, visiting people and signing autographs. We tried to visit everyone on base that wasn’t able to attend our show but there are over 7,000 brave men and women on most of the bases. Flying from country to country, we flew a C130, which is a huge Cargo military plane where you sit in cargo nets. When we landed in Afghanistan, the approach was completely different. It nearly made me sick and nauseated. There is a different landing style when you are landing in a war zone. You do a complete 360 in and drop extremely fast. They land like that because al Qaeda is posted around the base and landing that way ensures they can't fire at us. When we landed in Afghanistan and I looked out the window, I was in shock. You saw fallen planes and tanks blown up and the reason why they are still there is because they are surrounded by land mines.

At nighttime, the lights on the base are completely turned off. You can't even drive with headlights. It is a security procedure so we all had flashlights. The soldiers actually have infrared goggles so they can see. Planes actually land in the pitch dark. Also one thing they do at most of these bases is fly American flags over Afghanistan and the flag will represent why we are here. The flags represent freedom, and serves as a memorial to what happened September 11th. Most of us had flags flown in our names.

Despite the rockets flying into the camps by poorly trained al Qaeda members, to land mines blowing up around the camp at anytime, to the eighty-five degree weather during the day and thirty degrees at night, it was worth it. Throughout the danger and the difficult living conditions, the trip to the Middle East was definitely the best experience of my life. To see the heart felt faces and emotions of our soldiers is breathtaking.

This trip was an eye-opener as well as a bonding opportunity between the Wizards and the Redskins. I cannot put into words the feeling that was in my heart throughout this trip. One good way of explaining my feeling is letting you all know that we had the opportunity to leave the Middle East early and go home. They were afraid here that Iraq would not respond to the agreement and they said once they made the decision we would be out of here. Our MWR said if you all feel uncomfortable here, I understand and I can make arrangements to fly you home. We all stayed the entire trip. No one gave a nod or any type of smirk. We knew why we were here.

One soldier came to me and said, "I want you to send a message home for me; Tell America that we are here for every man, and woman and child; to protect them and to ensure that there future is safe. A lot of us feel forgotten here and it is heart wrenching. Please remember us and everything we are sacrificing." At that point I felt like an Ambassador. One hears stories of men overseas missing their first child's birth, or their wife deciding to divorce them. We all think that the military sends these people home when things like that occur, but that is not the case. They just cope and survive day by day.

My job now is to remind everyone at home that there are men and women thousands of miles away taking care of us. There was no better way to start my journey than writing this letter.

Kelly B. poses for a photo in a military base.

Wizards Dancer Jennifer also kept a journal of the trip that you can read here.

Thanks to Donald Wells, the Director of the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders, who pointed out that I was overlooking the contributions made by these amazing entertainers. And if anyone else sees any mistakes please don't hesitate to let me know.

Labels: NBA, Pacers