Tour of Duty -- Armed Forces Entertainment for the 21st Century

April 4, 2007 — -- Ethan Isaac and Jonathan Svec just got back from a tour in Iraq -- but not that kind of tour. Isaac and Svec, the lead singer and guitarist from New York City-based band Edison, were on an extended concert tour, performing in front of troops from Oman to Okinawa.

With hundreds of thousands of troops and their families stationed around the globe, Armed Forces Entertainment (AFE) is charged with the daunting task of providing entertainment, and a much-needed morale boost, to soldiers even in the most dangerous parts of the world.

"AFE is a Department of Defense program that manages all entertainment overseas, bringing entertainment to troops and their families," explained Lt. Col. Tamara Moes, the chief of AFE in Washington, D.C., in an interview with ABC News. "We have about 371 sites that we currently work with in six different regions -- from the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Europe, the Balkans, the Pacific, and South, Central, and Southwest Asia, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan."

USO tours have long showcased celebrity headliners -- early names included Danny Kaye, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sammy Davis. While AFE coordinates logistics for the USO tours, they also program a far greater number of performances on their own. It's these AFE tours that tend to be composed of up-and-coming performers like Edison. AFE pursues these lesser-known acts for a variety of reasons.

"The challenges with celebrity acts are with the amount of time they can go out on tour with us and when they can go out on tour with us," said Lt. Col. Moes. "Up-and-coming bands and performers allow and afford us the opportunity to send them out on the road for 30 up to 45 days. The opportunity that this brings for us is they can go out and do more performances."

Last year alone the AFE launched 118 different tours with a whopping 1433 total performances, reaching out to troops in every corner of the world. "Troops are looking for a broad range of entertainment," said Lt. Col. Moes. "From country to rock to alternative-they're not really specifically interested in one group. They like variety. The key to us is making sure we bring out a variety of performances."

To ensure that variety and a solid performance, AFE officials put each act through a rigorous screening process-researching the performers' popularity through myspace.com or electronic press kits, listening to demos or screening performance footage, running background checks, and getting an overall feel for the artists' stage presence and ability to captivate their audience.

"AFE likes to promote quality entertainers. We're out there to find the best of the best to take to the troops because they deserve it. The sound that we're looking for -- you can tell that the artist believes in what it is they're doing. Songs that they're singing and the emotions that they're bringing, you can feel their commitment and the energy," said Lt. Col. Moes.

Isaac and Svec will be the first ones to admit that they're no Bob Hope, but both agree that performing for the troops was a life-altering experience. "I'd have to say that it's the best musical experience I've had in my life to date," said Isaac in an interview with ABC News. "As a band it really changed all of our lives in a way that's hard to describe."

Despite initial reservations about donning a flack jacket and Kevlar and venturing in to war torn areas, Isaac and Svec, along with band mates Todd Budich and Jay Salley, say the risks were worth the rewards.

"One troop came up to me and he shook my hand with both hands and wouldn't let go. He said 'what you guys are doing, you have no idea how important this is.' It was at that point where I really felt 'wow' and realized we're not just bringing fun and music that something deeper was happening there, more than we'd ever anticipated," said Svec.

For many acts, the most challenging aspect of AFE tours is putting aside their own political opinions and discovering a new found respect for American servicemen and women. "A lot of things came with me right away -- my personal feelings about the conflict out there. The fear of being a cog in the wheel that keeps that machine going," said Svec. "Basically, we all have our own opinions, but the main reason is there are guys and girls fighting and dying out there. It came down to-we can bring something to them, we can bring something that will make a difference."

Ultimately, AFE tours provide the troops with a much-needed release, a time to forget about the demands and stresses of their daily lives. In the words of Lt. Col. Moes, "the moment that these troops are being entertained, they can forget the fact that they're away from home and, for a moment, they are connected again with America."