Uke love fells soldier at USO Center

GinnyT11

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I volunteer 2 or 3 times a month at the USO Center at our airport. It's a very nice lounge for traveling military personnel (staffed 24/7 by volunteers). Mostly I wipe counters and make sandwiches. I also take along a concert uke and leave it out with a "Play me" sign on it. So far, no one has been a uke player, but each time I'm there, someone is interested and enjoys fooling around with it after I've shown him how.

Today, a couple young soldiers in civvies were there on their way back to Ft. Bragg. One, with a fascinating array of tattoos on all limbs, was extremely interested. When I played You Are My Sunshine, he was as amazed as if I were Bonnie Raitt in concert. I showed him how to play C, F and G7 and gave him a tab sheet to play Camptown Races. With my uke in his lap, he said, "Where can I get one of these? Can I get one today?"

We went to a computer station in the Center and I showed him the UU forum and how to search for uke tabs. And I looked up North Carolina Ukulele Academy, which is near Ft. Bragg. He was wowed by the photo of a wall of ukes. He called to confirm that it would be open long enough (it would take two hours to drive there), and the two soldiers dashed off for Kent's store.

Uke love is a serious thing, but I'd never seen it hit someone so hard so quickly. I do hope they'll have ukes of their own soon--they wanted them to take to Afghanistan next month.
 
Now that was an amazing story!! It's rare that you see people so curious about an Ukulele, and fall in love with it so quickly lol. I love the power and effect the uke has on people, and like Jake said, "If everyone played the ukulele, the world would be a better place." I totally agree :)
 
Now that was an amazing story!! It's rare that you see people so curious about an Ukulele, and fall in love with it so quickly lol. I love the power and effect the uke has on people, and like Jake said, "If everyone played the ukulele, the world would be a better place." I totally agree :)

:agree: with that too


that is so cool, to be an inspiration to someone like that :) you just changed his life forever. I just hope he can afford the UAS! lol ;P
 
Sounds like someone found that instrument they didn't know they'd always been looking for. So so awesome. :)
 
:) I love this story. Good for him, I hope he's able to go out and get a uke as soon as possible. Every one of our soldiers deserves as much happiness and light as possible. It's great you were able to provide him with some!
 
Thank you for sharing this story! You brightened those soldiers day and now you've brightened mine too :)
Major kudos to you for being a volunteer and spreading happiness.

Nix
 
Inspiring! Ukes just make people happy!
 
That story makes my heart happy :).
 
Thanks for sharing the story and for sharing your Uke with the service folk. My hat's off to all you USO members. A little kindness goes a long way. Hopefully he joins the forum.
 
"Uke bait" - I love it!
 
Wish I had discover the uke when I was in the Army. Perfect size to stash away in the locker and good entertainment when the money ran out before the end of the month. By the way thanks for what your doing, those USO lounges mean a lot to traveling service members.
 
That's actually a very cool thing to do. It makes me think of situations where I can leave some "uke bait" around.

- Steve

I keep one on my desk at work along with a little beginner book and a tuner. Folks come by just to strum it now and then.
 
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