Undisclosed Area of Operation Middle East - Summer has arrived here in the middle east and with it temperatures reaching 130+ degrees. On an average day our troops faces are glistening with sweat from hard work in austere conditions, but today the reflective shine that could be seen on our troops faces was a mixture of sweat, sun and pride, brought to the front lines by ESPN X Games 7x X Games Medalist, World Record Holder and just fun guy: Levi LaVallee of Longville, MN. LaVallee, put his life's normal duties on hold for nearly 2 weeks, in order to come on the first ever Armed Forces Entertainment xHEAVY Medal Tour. Joining him: his crew chief and co-owner of Team LaVallee; Glenn Kafka along with X Games Adaptive 3x Gold Medallist Mike Schultz and Byron Turk and Robi Powers, volunteers with the troop resiliency nonprofit American300.
"We met so many different service members today, at so many different bases... I don't know where to begin in describing all of what we did... who we met." said Levi out in front of his concrete bunker of a structure as the clock struck midnight on this huge military installation that provides command and control for over half a dozen other smaller 'bases/posts' throughout the region. " We met flight line mechanics, vehicle maintainers, command leadership, security forces, administration and logistics specialists, engineers and ended the day with some special folks that blow stuff up... or disarm stuff so it can't blow up... it was amazing."
Having left behind the hustle and bustle of juggling a schedule of finishing off his new home, training for the upcoming AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, Special Guest duties at Summer ESPN X Games (just around the calendar corner) and the never ending responsibilities as one of RedBull's professional team members, Levi is doing what he does best - smiling, goofying around and wearing his pride of our our service members on his arms. "Our vetting process usually takes several interviews" says Major Jesse Stewart, a decorated US Army combat veteran and active duty soldier who founded American300 along with Powers and a handful of other veterans, Olympians and Business Leaders " Robi brought the board Levi's resume and vouched for Levi right out of the starting gate, between Robi's endorsement and Levi's track record, there wasn't much to do other then lean forward" he added.
So how's the X Games Medallist handling the 18 hour days, constant travel, time zone adjustments and temp's that are now pushing 130+ degrees? "I've captured hundreds of hours of film for Armed Forces Entertainment, all the folks American300 brings 'over' are great with the troops, but Levi takes it to another level." says Byron Turk, the tours official videographer and assistant team leader, " Levi is just amazing, he 'wears it on his sleeves, there's genuine gratitude... and then there's 'Levi LaVallee Gratitude'... he's not just a Gold Medallist at X Games" says Turk.
"Guys what are you doing?" asked Powers, of a group of Troops who for the first time in nearly a year had special guests come to visit them on their tiny base. "this is American300... we don't 'Do' Autograph Session Lines, come on over and circle up and meet these guys, we're here to meet you, get to know you... Thank You!" he added, and with that out came the Gold Medals and Sharpies, followed by down to earth, on the ground conversations... exchanges that for the most part were the first our troops had had with an American Guest on their base since they got here.
The Tour Continues...
For more information on the Department of Defense Office: Armed Forces Entertainment go to: www.armedforcesentertainment.com
For complete Tour Coverage in Photos, Videos and Stories please visit: www.American300.org
Note- American300 works directly with Armed Forces Entertainment on focused resiliency oriented troop engagements. Focusing on the smallest, hardest to get to areas of hardship deployment within the Department of Defense. While American300 Tours both organized by the Department of Defense and self initiated by the non-profit spend the vast majority of the time visiting the 'Sun Don't Shine Bases' around the World, there are times when at much larger bases, American300 Tours, simply go back into the hard to get to areas of work, spending time with Troops who due to duty tasking simply miss out on the normal flow of World Class Entertainment and Morale Activities that our Department of Defense offers.
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