Home sweet home..... First hand experience of co-existimg with some of our troops in Bosnia & Kosovo gives me a new appreciation of our home sweet home.

I just woke up after 20 hours of flying and hopping from airport to airport. And I know what our soldiers are unduring. Everyone needs to show their love and appreciation to them anyway possible.

We started our day yesterday with lunch at the Longhorn Cafe at camp Eagle base. We went to sound check at 4:00 pm and sound checked for a few hours. Right before showtime, the band and crew were presented qith special certificates on behalf of the soldiers in appreciation for our visit. Showtime was at 8:00 PM . The response from those in attendance was terrific. We had one soldiers come up and sing a George Strait song with the band. Miles, a buddy we made the night before brought his guitar and jammed some blues with the band. We had another come up and sing and play guitar with the band, a cool southern rockish tune. All in all it was a party. We stayed and signed autographs after the show and after shooting a few pics with some soldiers with their lowrider bikes which they actually built there at Camp Eagle base ( they came to the show from their barracks on the lowrider bikes ) wedrove 3 hours back through the mountains to Sarajevo.

We arrived to the hotel at 2:00 AM and left to the airport at 5:45 AM . The Holiday Inn we stayed at was the one in the movie "SARAJEVO" which was bombed heavy during the war. It is where the journalists were staying during the war and a lot of people lost their lives there. Oscar swears that he was awakened by loud talking in his ear after feeling someone tug at his hand and no one else was in the rrom with him. He of course slept the rest of the night with all the lights on in his room.

We flew out of Sarajevo to Vienna where we had a 3 hoir layover. This gave the guys a chance to buy some gifts at the Vienna airport. After a 9 hour flight we got into Washington DC where we had a 3 hour layover.

We arrived Houston close to 9 PM. I of course slept like a rock but now it's back to work. We fly out Thursday to Las Vegas to get ready for that show.

On behalf of the following LA MAFIA & CREW
Oscar De La Rosa - Vocals
Armando Lichtenberger Jr. - Keys & Accordion
David De La Garza Keys & Vocals
Tim Ruiz Bass
Joe Gonzales Drums
Ivo Bove Guitar
George Martinez Sound engineer/Production manager
Richard Guerra Lighting tech
Darrel Gonzales Stage tech
Rene Gonzalez Stage tech

we want to thank all the brave soldiers we made freinds with in Kosovo (Camp Bondsteel) and Bosnia (Camp Eagle base) for their hospitality. You guys are the best . We will continue to support you in any way we can. We will keep doing these USO tours until all of you are home safe.

Armando (Mando) Lichtenberger Jr

Well here we are. Bosnia. Most of was didn't even know where this country was before this.

Last night we spent the night in Vienna. We stayed at the Hilton Darube. Very different from the containers we slept in at Camp Bondsteel. I guess the USO knows musicians are wimps and can't take too many nights roughing it..lol. We got to see the sights a bit in Vienna. It is a beautiful city. We got to see the Imperial Palace dozens of churches hundreds of years old. But most inportant, we got to see one of MOZARTS apartments where he lived 3 years of his life.

We started the day early today. We flew out of Austria into Sarajevo Bosnia where we were picked up by bus. On the way to Camp Eagle Base we sopped along the way to try some local food. Very interesting I must say. They hang freshly killed lamb outside kind of the way they do cabrito in Mexico. Well after a 3 hour drive we arrived at Camp Eagle Base. Upon arriving we were warned not to wander off concrete paved streets and sidewalks because there are still live mines in this area. On the way here we kept seeing signs on the side of the road.WARNING MINES with a skull and crossbones on the red sign...very scary. Our rooms here are very similar the ones we stayed at at Camp Bondsteel. Tonight we are resting for the show tomorrow (Monday) We are dining and meeting some soldiers which we are looking forward to. All the guys are holding up well..a little tired but this trip is worth whatever we have to do to bring a little bit of home to our troops. Well I better finish....some of the guys are waiting in line to use the computer. They have a cyber cafe here at the base.

Laters

Mando

Good morning everyone..well it's morning over here..we are 7 hours ahead of Texas time...it feels great to sleep finally. We were up about 30 hours without sleep because of our flight delays .

Well this is how our day went getting here. We finally got our flights corrected after the delay but as I mentioned we had to fly a lot more to get here to Kosovo. We were treated like kings in firsta class by Luftansa Airlines. Once we got to Frankurt 7 hours alater , things changed a bit. We had a 3 hour layover there and connected to Turkish Airlines. Wow what a difference from Luftansa. Well we finally arrived into Instantbul Turkey. Actually they have a very nice airport. We had a 2 hours layover so everyone was able to do a little shopping for Turkish gifts. Well we finally reached Pristina Kosovo. Beleive it or not...all out luggage made it so no problems there. We were given a military escort from the airport to Bondsteel Base about 1 hour away. We did experience a lot of sadness over here first hand. . All the villages are in the middle of reconstruction because of the wars. One that that stood out was the gratitude for our country. One town we passed through had a building named The Bill Clinton Building in honor of Bill Clinton for helping begin the peace process over here. In another village we passed a hotel named The Victory Hotel complete with a replica Statue Of Liberty on the roof.

We arrived the canp which has a nickname Lone Star Camp because of all the Texans stationed here. We were checked into our rooms..well I mean containers. We slept in the same containers the sodiers sleep in which are a little metal container about 6' x 10' only with a bed and a closet. We sound checked 2 hours later and went and grabbed a bite to eat before the show. We hit the stage at 8 pm and played 30 minutes extra for the soldiers which were having to good of a time for us to cut it off. We signed autgraphs for about an hour and went back to out containers..lol right after. We were given a surprise tour of some Apache Copters...wow. This morning we are gonna be taken to the Weapons Simulators where they say they are going to let us play with the toys a bit....really looking forward to that...Well thats all for now..gotta get ready to go play war...lol..we are flying into Vienna Austria today where we will spend the night and do it all over again tomorrow where we go to Sarajevo..laters...peace...Mando

Well we almost made it to Europe today. It has been a long day. We started our journey with an interview with "El Gordo Y La Flaca" who sent a crew to meet us at the airport to see us off. We were delayed in Houston with bad weather for about 3 hours. We were re-routed to connect in Washington DC to fly to Munich Germany to Vienna to Pristina and then drive 2 hours to Kosovo. We didn't make our connection in Washington and after a few hours, our USO director decided to have us spend the night in Washington. We are flying out tomorrow , bur this time we are flying to Frankfurt Germany to Instabul Turkey (thats nuts huh) to Pristina and then we are driving to Kosovo. The sad thing is that we were supposed to visit some of our troups at the Hospital which we won't make. Well I better get to bed....we have another long day ahead of us....everyone is excited about our stop in Instabul Turkey...that was an unexpected change....I'll try and get some pics up soon...peace...Mando