Troops stationed at Fort Carson will soon have a new place to watch movies, play video games and enjoy a picnic with their families.
The United Service Organizations, the nonprofit group better known as the USO, which provides a respite for soldiers and their loved ones, announced today that it will build a center at the Army post in Colorado Springs. Expected to open in 2008, the center will serve the third-largest concentration of soldiers in the country.
But what will make the center unique among USO outposts is that it will be connected to Fort Carson’s welcome center, said Joe Aldaz Jr., a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from Colorado Springs who will serve as the new center’s director.
“Every new troop that comes to Fort Carson in the Army will come through the USO center,” Aldaz said. “They will be able to see our services right away. It shows our support for what they’re doing, and it kind of gives them those comforts of home and a place to relax and decompress and enjoy themselves.”
Fort Carson’s population has surged in recent years, and the post is poised to receive 10,000 new troops from Fort Hood, Texas. The Pentagon has suggested that as many as 3,500 more troops could also be stationed at the base. Those additions would swell Fort Carson’s population to more than 25,000 troops.
“The USO is excited to be opening a new center to serve the growing military community of Fort Carson,” Edward A. Powell, the USO president and CEO, said in a statement.
Aldaz said work will commence on the new USO center in the next couple months and is expected to take about six months. The new center will be more than 5,000 square feet and feature a free cyber cafe, an entertainment lounge with a big screen TV and video gaming consoles, a library, a children’s play area and an outdoor picnic area.
Construction will be financed largely by corporate sponsorships from TriWest Healthcare Alliance, The Home Depot and Lockheed Martin, and the Defense Department will also provide some funding.
The USO operates 130 centers worldwide, including a center in Denver International Airport. But the organization is perhaps best known for its celebrity tours, in which stars such as Bob Hope and Jessica Simpson have traveled to war zones to entertain troops.
Aldaz, who served as the president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Colorado Springs after retiring from the Air Force, said he feels fortunate to have been chosen for the job as center director.
“I want to give back to the community and specifically to our troops,” he said. “This mission is in support of our troops. I felt this is really where I could put my passion.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
