USO cheers traveling troops at Hartsfield-Jackson

Thousands of trainees and recent graduates of Army training are pouring through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this week, and the USO has bulked up its volunteer force to greet them.

Dozens of volunteers in red aprons cheered the burst of newly minted soldiers going home on holiday from Georgia’s Fort Gordon Wednesday morning. More soldiers from South Carolina’s Fort Jackson will arrive Thursday, followed by another wave from Georgia’s Fort Benning Saturday. They’re arriving by charter bus each morning then flying to their hometowns.

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Andrew Lewis is welcomed home by his wife, Amber, and his 11-month-old daughter, Arlie. The last time he saw here she was 9 weeks old)..

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John Spink/jspink@ajc.com

USO volunteer Sherrie Curtis (center) talks with Robert Schmitz (left) and Daniel Pynenberg (both from Appleton, Wisc.) at Hartsfield-Jackson as they wait to go home on leave after training at Ft. Gordon.

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That’s on top of the steady flow of military personnel who arrive and depart daily for destinations overseas.

“We’re running around like crazy today,” said Mary Lou Austin, the chief executive officer of USO of Georgia. The charity group usually has eight to a dozen volunteers on hand during the day to greet military personnel. But they expanded to 36 volunteers, working around the clock starting at midnight Wednesday, to handle the holiday influx from regional bases, Austin said.

The USO volunteers waited at the reception area behind security to cheer as the regular stream of personnel topped the escalator from the runway gates, offering hugs and rousing the public to cheer as well.

The volunteers also waited with families who gathered as early as 3 a.m. to await the charter buses from the regional bases. They escorted soldiers to their check-in desks, distributed snow globes and little Christmas trees, and worked behind the scenes, cooking hot dogs and coffee at the USO center on the airport atrium’s second floor. That’s where military flyers can lounge as they await their boarding times. They can tap into the Internet there, watch TV or use cellphones that were being distributed for unlimited use Wednesday.

Austin said the holiday volunteer slots are popular and are locked down years in advance, but the public can still to help by donating the most popular item among traveling service members: phone cards.

The soldiers will flow back through Hartsfield-Jackson on their return to base Jan. 1-3. Then, and through Saturday, the airport will resemble a base with all the uniforms.

“If you’re flying in the morning,” Austin said, “the airport’s going to be covered with soldiers.”