 Several members of the 2009-10 Honeybees squad traveled to Kosovo for their first military tour to support the troops. Follow along as the girls write about their experiences overseas! CLICK HERE to view more photos from their tour. Ashlie's Entry
 Hey Hornets Fans! It’s Honeybee Ashlie writing to you straight from Pristina, Kosovo. After our awesome performance Thursday night, we knew we had to go straight to bed to get our beauty sleep because we had more appearances the next day; visiting two more troops of soldiers at Nothing Hill and Film City. It took two hours to get to Nothing Hill from Camp Bondsteel; therefore, we woke up bright and early in order to get there to have lunch with the troops. Nothing Hill is the most northern Kosovo base and is named after the highest peak in the area, and as the soldiers liked to say, it was named this because there is “nothing” there. After having lunch with the troops, we had an autograph session and posed for many pictures with the soldiers at the café on base. Around mid-afternoon, we decided to wrap up our appearance at Nothing Hill because we still had another appearance at the base in Film City. Film City, the KFOR headquarters, was located directly between Nothing Hill and Camp Bondsteel, which made for a quicker trip. As soon as we got there, the soldiers took us off base to do a “little” shopping. After spending a little money, we finally made our way onto the base. Film City was great because not only did it have American soldiers, but they had soldiers from other countries stationed at the base as well, giving it an international flavor. Each nationality was represented on base by having its own headquarters, souvenir shop, and restaurant. We did a little exploring at Film City, and then we were quickly escorted to the chow hall for dinner with the troops. After dinner, we were then taken to the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) facility to change, freshen up, and get ready for our appearance. The MWR facility was great; fully equipped with TV’s, pool, ping-pong, and foosball tables, a popcorn machine, AND an ice cream machine. Our appearance at Film city began with an autograph/photo session at the MWR. We were then taken to the National Intelligence Headquarters on base to do a private autograph and picture session because the soldiers couldn’t leave their headquarters due to the fact that they work around the clock for the safety of the other soldiers and the civilians in Kosovo. To our surprise, one of them was dressed in a Hornets jersey, and we soon found out that he was from New Orleans as well. After that, it was time for us to say our “goodbyes” because we still had to pack for our departure to Vienna the next day. Before leaving Camp Bondsteel for Vienna, we were awakened early because we were told that we were going to be able to see and possibly ride in the Bradley’s, or as other people may know them, the “army tanks.” We were all so excited because we had wanted to see them, but we were not sure we would be able to fit it into our schedule; therefore, none of us complained about the early morning wake-up call. When we got there, the soldiers gave us a quick history lesson and explained different parts on the Bradley, and then we were off to explore the ins and outs of them. Once we were inside, they made us put on the Kevlar’s (military helmet), and we were off for a quick ride. Two of us got to ride in the turret, which is the tower-like part of the Bradley that you can stand up to look out, while the others rode in the back of the Bradley. During our bumpy and wild ride, we all finally understood the need for the obnoxiously large Kevlar’s and the chin strap. As soon as we returned from our ride, we knew we had to quickly grab our bags, so that we would not miss our flight to Vienna, Austria. We said our “goodbyes” and “thank yous,” and we were off to Vienna. After an hour and a half flight, we finally got to Vienna, and we immediately started exploring the sights. We decided to start our trip at the center of the town, and located at the center was St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a Roman Catholic Church that was absolutely breathtaking, both inside and out. We did a little exploring on the side streets, and after all that walking, we were starving. So, we stopped for a bite to eat at a local restaurant. EVERYTHING was fantastic, including the dessert. We decided to order a dessert that they are known for, Kaiserschmarrn (it reminded us of beignets), and it was absolutely delicious. After dinner, we made a toast to a great trip, took some pictures of our final day, and made our way back to the hotel for the night because we still had a LONG day of traveling ahead of us. Our trip is officially over, but we had a great time performing for the troops. This was a life changing experience for us because everything was so surreal. We got to experience life on base, we were able to see how much they care for and are willing to fight for our country, and we actually got to see the effect the American soldiers have had on the country of Kosovo. On behalf of the Honeybees, we would like to thank the Hornets and AKA productions for putting together such a great trip, and for allowing us to take part in this experience. We hope you have enjoyed our blog, as much as we enjoyed experiencing it and writing to you about it. SUPPORT OUR HORNETS AND SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! Brianna's Entry
 Hey Hornets Fans! This is Brianna writing to you from Camp Bondsteel, and American army base in Kosovo. It’s been a long 14 hour journey, but we finally made it here for our first ever military tour. We couldn’t be more excited to show these soldiers our support & bring them a little piece of home, Hornets style! We woke up early this morning to get our official KFOR (Kosovo Forces) ID cards. Our next stop was to visit the offices of CID (Criminal Investigation Detectives). They showed us all of their crime scene investigation tools, including a crisis Response Telephone that they use to make negotiations during hostage situations. Ashlie got her finger prints taken and we all learned how to dust for fingerprints & to lift them right off the surface. We saw their interrogation room and politely declined the offer to take the polygraph test. To thank us for our visit the soldiers at the CID gave us our first patch of the day. Then we were whisked away to have lunch with the soldiers where we learned a lot about their purpose and daily activities in Kosovo – to promote peace between Kosovo and Serbia. After lunch we stopped by the K-9 unit where we earned our next patch…but we did have to sacrifice Angele to get it! The instructors led the dogs through training exercises to demonstrate how highly skilled these dogs really are. They ended the demonstration with “aggression training” to show how these dogs can stop any perpetrator who tries to flee the scene. Angele bravely volunteered to dress up in a padded suit (not quite as glamorous as our Honeybee outfits) and ran as the dog chased her to take her down. She loved it! After that we were able to hang out in the cockpit of the Black Hawks & met General Jones. We learned all about those impressive helicopters and staged a little photo shoot to document the moment. Before we knew it, it was time to put on our show for the soldiers. We performed seven of your favorite Honeybee routines, including “Poison” and “Single Ladies”. But we also incorporated crowd interaction and a few contests to really get the soldiers involved in our show. It was our opportunity to put the soldiers to the test! We put one lucky soldier through our version of a bootcamp obstacle course where he had to compete against a Honeybee. I have to admit that we did cheat a little. He had to do his pushups with two Honeybees sitting on his back. It was priceless! We also had a dance off, finish the lyrics, and we even taught two of the guys a Honeybee routine that they performed with us at the end of the show. It was so funny! And they were actually VERY good! Everyone had so much fun & was extremely supportive of us. We couldn’t have asked for a better crowd! I think we even recruited a few more Hornets fans! We were all glad that we could support the soldiers & brighten up their stay here at Camp Bondsteel. These courageous men and women are doing great things out here. Keep supporting our troops and the Hornets! That’s all for now! Today has been such an eventful day. I can’t wait for what tomorrow has in store! Diten e mive! Brianna |
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