USO Mobile Center sets up shop at Nellis

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Whitney
  • 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (ACCNS) --  The United Services Organization Western Region Mobile Center arrived at Nellis, the center's new home station, April 10-11 to allow Nellis peeople to take advantage of the new facility.

Mobile centers are designed to be a USO center on wheels that provides support to troops who do not have a traditional facility at their disposal. Each mobile center cost $400,000 and is assigned to a particular region of the United States.

"Nellis was chosen as the home station on the Western Region for many reasons but one of the most dominant reasons is simply the location of Nellis; we don't have a USO in Nevada, and Nellis is a good central location for the states that this USO Mobile Center supports," said Corey Hulse, logistics and maintenance manager for the Western USO Mobile Center.

Nellis is a prime choice because of the amount of events that the base plays a part in - the Nellis air show, NASCAR, and the Vegas Grand Prix, to name a few, he said.

"We want to provide our troops with a place to go to relax, and this center does that with the multiple facets of entertainment that are provided," said Joan Cote, president and CEO of the Delaware USO.

The mobile center offers multiple venues of entertainment with two 47-inch TVs on the exterior of the vehicle with an extendable awning, a lounge area with an additional 47-inch plasma TV, Xbox 360, DVD player, surround sound-system, and a 12-person sectional couch.

There is also a gaming area that has four Xbox 360's, each displayed on 15-inch plasma TVs. These gaming systems are networked together for head-to-head or cooperative play between the systems and are also connected to the internet to allow online game-play.

The mobile center also has a wireless internet café that offers a range of 100 feet from the station and troops can access this unrestricted internet via 10 onboard laptop computers.

"We even have food and drinks, but the best part is there is no charge for anything," said Mr. Hulse. "Making troops happy is more than enough of a payment for us."

"This center is incredible," said Airman 1st Class Aaron Castaldo, 3rd Special Operations Squadron. "It provides so many things to do; it's really hard to pick one thing on here that outshines the others."

The mobile center is scheduled to tour around the region for one to three months and then return to Nellis.

When they return, the center will be reopened to Nellis personnel, before departing Nellis for the next tour across the region.

"These mobile centers help us get out there and support the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who don't have access to a USO facility," said Mr. Hulse.  "Thanks to Nellis, we can now serve many other military members in the western region where USO facilities are few and far between."