The United Service Organizations, or USO, hosted their annual Red, White and Blue Golf Classic at The Golf Club at Newcastle, June 16, as a celebration of the Northwest branch's 50-year anniversary, but the main focus was still supporting the troops.

Becki Beach, a member of the USO, said although she had no military history herself, she was happy to volunteer with her local USO to help cook for the event, as she feels that giving the military a hand in any way helps.

"(This tournament) helps a lot. To see all the military and retired military, it's just a happy occasion for everybody," Beach said. "I'm inspired by the things that they do, and to give back to the community seemed like a great way to help them."

A golfer tees off to help support the USO. Photo credit: Jackson Hogan
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Some USO volunteers were actually not involved full-time with the organization, but decided to help through their normal job. Tiffanie Rynehart, who volunteered for this USO event with her company, Expedia, was one of those assistants.

"My father-in-law and my brother have contributed to our country, and I felt like this was a nice way to give back. And since my work helped send us here, it was very easy to help," Rynehart said.

The event had over 300 golfers from all walks of life. Some were there with their companies who sponsored the event, some were veterans, and some were actively serving in the Armed Forces, such as Teddy Harman, who figured it was time to help out the group that gave him, and many other soldiers, a boost.

"The USO has always supported the soldiers, so I figured it was time to support the USO," Harman said.

Ryan Emlinger, who works at Madigan Hospital, was already passionate about golf, so he figured the Red, White and Blue Golf Classic was a perfect way to combine his two passions.

"Me and my partner golf quite a bit, and we played in the JBLM league last year and had a good time. And we had the chance to come out here and play, so we jumped on it," Emlinger said. "I just think it's great how the USO put it together; everything we're seeing is just top-notch."

Out of the many attendees, some were "local celebrities," and one was assigned with each branch of the military in a tournament where the branches duked it out for golfing superiority. One of the more notable of these was Seattle sports radio host Brock Huard, perhaps most famous for his football career, having played quarterback with the trifecta of Northwest football: the Seahawks, the Huskies and Puyallup High School.

"This, I can honestly say, is my favorite golf event we do. It's a great opportunity to just come out and connect with the people that serve," Huard said. "I think people appreciate the service that the servicemen and women give to our country, and if coming out and playing golf for an afternoon counts as giving, well, I think that's pretty easy to say yes to. To me, this is the least we can do to show a little gratitude and appreciation."

The event itself was certainly well-run: The Golf Club at Newcastle is a gorgeous, swanky course, and the USO not only provided free food for all of the attendees, but also sponsored fun events before and after the tournament, such as a putting contest and a helicopter golf ball drop contest. In keeping with the military theme, the USO arranged for a flyover and an 18-gun salute from the Marines, as well as the Todd Beamer High School band, who performed various anthems from the military's branches. Don Leingang, the tournament's director, made sure to stress the importance of the event.

"If you look around, there's so much excitement going on. I mean, we have the largest golf tournament in support of the military, basically, on the west coast," Leingang said. "So when you bring 340 golfers, 150 sponsors together in one area, we just have so much excitement and so much appreciation for our military here, and that's what we do. We create those moments."