For 75 years the United Services Organization has helped millions of Service members
in combat zones or provided respite in airports around the globe.
USO is providing services to prospective military recruits and their families at the Military Entrance Processing Station -- Fort Jackson, after officially opening a center there May 13.
The USO opened the center inside the MEPS "so that all these young recruits, or applicants, that come in to take their testing to go into any branch of the military … have snacks, video games and beverages," said Joanie Thresher, the director of the USO in South Carolina. "We have great volunteers here sharing their time to make sure they have everything they need."
If it wasn't for the "forces behind the forces" the USO center wouldn't have been built, Thresher said.
After years of work and donations from various places the center finally came to fruition.
Those volunteers can answer questions from families, "about how they are taken care of around the world."
For one of the USO volunteers, Lorren "Jack" Jackson, Service members are the ones who are truly serving the country.
"Those kids are the ones who are taking care of us," said Jackson, who volunteers at both the MEPS and Columbia Metropolitan Airport USO centers.
Service members and their families visited USO centers around the globe more than 7 million times in 2014 alone.
The USO characterizes its centers as places to "provide a warm and comforting place where Service members can connect to loved ones via Internet or phone, play a video game, catch a movie, have a snack or just put their feet up and relax."
The first stop for most Soldiers in Training heading to Fort Jackson for Basic Combat Training is the Columbia airport USO where they meet a drill sergeant for the first time. Fort Jackson trains more than 60 percent of all initial entry Soldiers entering the Army each year.
Fort Jackson MEPS is housed in a 43,275 square foot, $1.139 million facility that services more than 25,000 applicants annually.
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