The USO recently announced actor David Boreanaz as its newest Global Ambassador. He joins a impressive team including Wilmer Valderrama, Vanessa Lachey, and Miss USA Cassie Donegan, to name a few.
The actor — known for roles on hit shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Bones,” and “SEAL Team” — has a personal tie to military service: his father, an Army veteran, was a broadcaster for American Forces Network (AFN), the television/radio broadcast service for U.S. service members deployed or stationed overseas. Sitting down with Military Families Magazine in an exclusive interview, Boreanaz shared how the USO supports service members, his favorite moments with the organization so far, and how the organization offers hope and morale even in uncertain times.
‘A remarkable experience’
Boreanaz is no stranger to the USO or supporting the military; with the organization, he has visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to boost morale for recovering patients, and traveled to multiple military installations around the country to eat with service members. Boreanaz recalled some of his favorite moments of last year’s tour when he sat down with young service members who he described as “very green and entering the system.”
“They really are inspiring because you see such determination yet also fear in their eyes of not knowing what is to come. Being able to sit in that energy with them — whether that’s spending time with them while they’re having lunch and eating lunch with them — it was quite remarkable,” he said. “You can see their anxiety kind of pop out: their sense of yearning for leadership and what it means to be part of the military, [and] what their ambitions are in being part of the military.”
Coffee and doughnuts
The USO “symbolizes so much strength and understanding and compassion,” said Boreanaz. “Whether that’s a grab bag, whether that’s a doughnut, a cup of coffee… there’s more to it than just the doughnut and a cup of coffee. It’s a sense of relief that [service members] may feel being far away, away from their families, the sacrifices, the tension that’s going on, the dangerous environment that they may be a part of.”
The actor explained that as he tours military installations, his job is to listen to the service members’ stories and what they need. For Boreanaz, his role in the USO is “…spreading that camaraderie, that understanding of ‘I’m here to listen, I’m not here to preach; I’m here just to be.’ And I think that that says a lot for what the USO stands for.”
“[My dad] got that doughnut and cup of coffee,” he went on. “My father’s 90, in great shape… and he remembers being in Panama and getting that cup of coffee and the doughnut [while] not knowing where his next steps would be, and the uncertainty of where he was. And that, again, reminds me of [the importance of] having just a cup of coffee and a doughnut.”
“I think may kind of sit with me for this whole experience, because who doesn’t love a doughnut? Who doesn’t love a cup of coffee?” he chuckled.
Wanting to be inclusive to those who may limit their caffeine intake, Boreanaz quickly added, “Or you could have tea… or water.”
‘A fabric of this nation’
As an actor, director and producer in Hollywood, Boreanaz has played several military characters, such as Army veteran and FBI Agent Seeley Booth on “Bones” and Navy SEAL Jason Hayes on “SEAL Team.” Boreanaz recognizes the significance of sharing the military point of view; offering a veteran’s perspective gives the shows’ audiences an opportunity to learn and understand.
“I believe that … within the character study, whatever that environment may be, if you can lean into the honesty and the truth behind that subtext, that lends itself to an impact for other people that are watching,” he said. “[It] truly is one of the reasons why I do what I do, and why I thoroughly love what I do.”
“When I was asked to be an ambassador for the USO, I was moved, more so for my love for the military and the roles that I’ve played that have kind of impacted so many people across this country and the world,” Boreanaz added. “I so thoroughly enjoy sitting with our men and women — [in] service, out of service, our veterans. I recognize the Gold Star Families, I recognize our operators, I recognize all those that have put their energy and their time and their sacrifice to help protect our great country. So I’m just so happy to be on board, and I look forward to many more moments of learning about myself through the eyes of other people in the USO.”
As we finished our interview, Boreanaz offered this final piece of advice:
“We are all a fabric of this nation, and within that, our perspective can either be positive or negative, or it could be shifted. But if we remain true to the colors of that fabric — the red, white and blue — we will forever be true to our country.”
