The War and Treaty on Becoming the Latest Act to Embrace the USO’s Long-Standing Mission

When The War and Treaty ventured into Italy for the duo’s second USO tour, a stop in Naples on Oct. 25 led to an unexpected bonus.

The U.S. Navy band for the Mediterranean region happened to be in town on an off-day, and the ensemble worked up a short set to back Michael and Tanya Trotter on one of four dates during the trek. Michael is a veteran, having served in Iraq roughly 20 years ago, and the visit became something more than a typical concert.

“It ended with Michael sitting down and having a heart-to-heart with these sailors about his journey and about his story, and about how music can really save you,” USO global entertainment production director Sarah Moll recalls. “If you’re having a moment, you know, ‘Go inward, go to music.’ [He told] how he really did that when he was serving. I was looking around, and there were tears, there were nodding heads, there were smiles. I think they just felt so heard.”

November is National Veterans and Military Families Month, and few activities provide greater connection for troops and their relatives overseas than a USO visit. Because of his military history, Michael understands better than most how simply that occurs when an artist visits a base.

“Nobody’s asking questions about home,” he says. “No one’s thinking about that. They’re mission-driven. This is what makes our country’s military the greatest fighting force ever seen in history. We know how to stay focused when we come into that hall to just be entertained. That’s exactly what we want: ‘Entertain us.’”

The USO has been entertaining troops for more than 80 years. The organization was founded in February 1941 -— prior to the country’s involvement in World War II — tasked with bringing performers, athletes and other celebrities to the military.

Country music has been a big part of the USO’s story. Country Hall of Fame member Gene Autry was among the first to join the cause, purportedly singing to more than 1 million troops and family members in the Pacific theater after he completed his own military service in 1945. Across the decades, Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Barbara Mandrell, Charley Pride and Randy Travis would participate. During this century, the list has included Darryl Worley, Chely Wright, Kellie Pickler, Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry and Toby Keith, who — as a 2010 Parade story noted — usually headed “right to the front lines” during annual tours overseas.

In the vast majority of cases, entertainers are shielded from the most dangerous outposts, though even when the visits are not in an active war zone, they can still have a significant emotional impact. The War and Treaty’s first USO tour landed them at Camp Casey in South Korea, a scant 13 miles from the demilitarized zone at the border of North Korea. They were “literally in the danger zone,” Michael recalls.

In between the music, he told the troops of his Iraq War memories — the soldiers who served at his side and those who were lost in combat. One of his former comrades happened to be at the base and was able to catch up with Michael. Just as importantly, Michael shared some of his past in a more vivid way with Tanya, who had seen aspects of his post-traumatic stress disorder. It resurfaced during that visit.

He was able to get through it — “I had to take a breather because my mind was getting back into war mode,” he says — and Tanya was better able to recognize some triggers for his condition.

“It was more intensified than it is at home, but it’s what we do deal with all the time,” she says. “It doesn’t go anywhere, the experience that he’s had, but it heightens, depending on the environment. So it was just a heightened response to being in it.”

Michael’s visit to Camp Casey underscores the significance of the USO. Entertainers can spend a few days or a week embedded in military life. Even if it tests them, they get to leave the environment at the end of their mission, while the soldiers’ tours of duty continue until their contracts run out.

The smallest things can make the biggest difference — Moll remembers Craig Morgan leaving the two guitars he brought on one tour with service members he met. And simple conversations in the mess hall can make a huge impression.

“The coolest part,” Moll says, “is where we get to sit down and have a meal with them. I’m like, ‘Where are you from?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m from New Jersey,’ or ‘I’m from Virginia.’ It just kind of gives everyone a starting point. We’re sitting in the middle of Italy, but there’s some way that we can connect.”
Moll provides an ideal connection between the USO and the entertainment industry.

During her time as NFL director of media events, she landed on the Billboard Power 100 after working with the likes of Bruno Mars, Beyoncè, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry at the Super Bowl. Her move to the USO has brought a different level of meaning to her work — “I put my head down at night, and I’m like, ‘I did good today,’” she says — but it has had a similar impact on the artists who make time for the program.

“There isn’t probably one person that I have toured with that hasn’t said, ‘Call me anytime. Let me know what you want me to do. Where are we going next year?’ ” she observes. “It’s definitely a legacy thing.”

That’s true for The War and Treaty, who want to take the baton from the hundreds of entertainers who have preceded them.

“It’s very important,” Michael says. “I had some good people to follow in the past — of course, Bob Hope, but also just thinking of Whoopi Goldberg’s contributions, and Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Toby Keith. I’m very excited to try to pick up a mantle here.”