Military couples at Fort Belvoir rocked out to hit tunes performed by Max Impact, the premiere rock band of the U.S. Air Force, May 29 during the USO Warrior and Family Care Center's "Your USO Meal" Date Night.
Spending time away from their daily work and parenting responsibilities was relaxing for the couples, according to Meryl Turner of Woodlawn Village.
"'Free and away from the children,' is the key phrase," said Turner, who attended with her husband, Jason Turner. "Plus, it's on post so it's not like we are far away. We didn't have to do any advanced planning, we just came."
Families listened to hit songs such as "Hotel California" by the Eagles, "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas and "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osborne while dining on chicken-and-shrimp kabobs and rice.
The location of the event was convenient for Chiara Leist, Lewis Village resident, since the Date Night occurred on a weeknight. Leist also enjoyed the choice of genre by Max Impact.
"We can't go far during the week because everyone has to work the next day so we come to the USO," said Leist. "I was afraid they were going to play pop music, but their music selection was great."
Couples like Tech. Sgt. Adam Crane, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and his wife, Kerri, were returning listeners of Max Impact which performed at the USO on May 22. Adam and Kerri Crane decided it would be good stress release to listen to them perform again.
"It's good to get away from working and parenting all the time," said Adam Crane. "We come to USO events whenever we get a chance to."
Max Impact are looking for opportunities to support local servicemembers, so they decided performing at USO Date Night would be a good way to do that, according to Air Force Master Sgt. Ryan Carson, Max Impact lead vocals.
"It's good for us to get out to the local installations and help servicemembers blow off steam," said Carson. "I'll speak as a father of three, anytime you can do that it's great. If I had a chance to do this with my wife I would."
Carson performed two Journey songs during the show, "Separate Ways" and "Faithfully." He sang "Faithfully" because he feels it captures the main purpose of Date Night.
"One reason I sing Faithfully is because of the line 'I get the joy of rediscovering you,'" said Carson. "Sometimes, when you come to an event like this it gives you a chance to talk and rediscover one another instead of wiping noses all the time."
Providing the couples with a night to relax and having them leave the event in a good mood is always the band's goal, according to Air Force Master Sgt. Shani Prewitt, Max Impact lead vocals.
"Reach the people that are here," said Prewitt."It sounds cliché, but we want people to feel better when they leave than when they came."
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