May 25, 2025 - Epoch Times
02:05
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Lieutenant Dan Band was born in 2003, 2004, when I just started doing USO tours and I wanted to go out there and entertain the troops, like Kid Rock was doing, right? | |
| First trip I was on, he was rocking out. | |
| I was Lieutenant Dan, shaking hands and taking pictures. | |
| But I wanted to entertain, so that's where the band came from. | |
| I had musicians I played with. | |
| I liked to play bass. | |
| I put a variety show together of all kinds of music that they would appreciate and enjoy. | |
| And it's also, you know, I pay the band. | |
| I do it for free. | |
| It's part of just my mission, you know. | |
| And now the band has done almost 600 concerts over the last 20 years or so on military bases. | |
| All over the country and overseas. | |
| And it's all free concerts for people. | |
| Occasionally we've played in some clubs and that kind of thing, but mostly it's military. | |
| It's over 170, I think. | |
| That's the number I have in terms of military bases. | |
| I think it's over 180 now. | |
| It's quite the number. | |
| Yeah, that's a lot of military bases, you know, around the country and overseas to visit. | |
| And if, you know, and so, you know, and many of those bases I've been to multiple times. | |
| So it's hundreds of trips, and I did 100 USO tours over the years. | |
| And then the Gary Sinise Foundation became solid enough. | |
| That I could make the band and my work with the band a part of the mission of the Gary Sinise Foundation. | |
| So the American people who donate to the Gary Sinise Foundation, they help me take the band to military bases and hospitals to entertain the troops and to lift spirits. | |
| Thank you to the American people for allowing us to do that. |
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