Thinking back

I can remember meeting Kid Rock in Kuwait when he & his groupies came as part of a USO show. The only reason I met him was that he stopped by the clinic and one of my PA’s gave me a panicked call. Just said that he had one of the USO performers who was there, demanding care and medications. Ok … but it wasn’t. This particular person claimed, without any prescriptions or medical notes to back him up that he needed certain meds prior to his performance. – and no, he didn’t have them with him. Something or other about forgetting them in his luggage or lost or …. Needless to say, I wasn’t all that sympathetic. I don’t consider uppers, downers, and oxycontin as medications for performance. Perhaps if I had been asked for 1 or 2 tabs I might have bent. But no one needs 30-50…. nor do they need advice on how to get alcohol around the local countries prohibitions.

And now I see this particular obnoxious person performing for the former president. And I am wondering if he is still using a lot of drugs to get through his performances, daily life, and how this is affecting him and those he is cheering on.

In contrast, Robin Williams came through with the USO as well that year. He walked around in the crowd, talked to people, and was direct, funny, and answered audience questions. That last can be pretty hard with a crows of thousands packed, all standing, into a small space. I went and looked at his Wiki article (look it up if you are interested). There are a couple of pictures of him at USO functions, but no mention of how much time and effort he put into entertaining and supporting troops.

Contrasts there.