Written by Cassie Trammell
As we are approaching our USO Tour very quickly, I thought I would put together a list of items that we absolutely couldn't get by without. It's a 10-day journey full of excitement, joy and usually some mishaps that can seem really awful at that moment, but can be easily fixed with a few household items.
The first few things a DCC needs on tour, specifically in the show bag, are laundry detergent, shout wipes and Tide Simple Pleasures hanger scents. We have three suitcases on tour: one for normal luggage at the hotel with our toiletries and daily matching outfits, another for carrying our uniform and boots, and a third for all of our show costumes.
Our show bag is literally taken from us when we arrive on tour and transported by our crew from show to show. We dance, then sign autographs and meet soldiers, then we pack our bags and send them off with our crew again. The Tide scents are meant to be hung in your closet to make your clothes fresh, but they do wonders just sprinkled all around the inside of a show bag! Also, the wipes and laundry detergent packets really come in handy when a bottle of red Gatorade explodes in your show bag, and turns everything, including your white uniform vest, bright pink.
Some of the more obvious things we need on tour are emergency sewing kits, manicure kits, safety pins and Downy wrinkle spray. All of these things come in handy when we have to make a quick fix on our daily outfits, costumes and uniforms. Another thing that I would regret not having on tour with me is Versa in a can. We tan at Palm Beach Tan and Planet Tan, and they sell a spray-tan-at-home option. Not only does it even out your skin tone, but it gives you a pretty glow that really helps make you look more awake when you are tired after a long day.
After all that running around and meeting and greeting soldiers, we still have a two-hour show to put on each and every night. I take a B-12 liquid that you can drop under your tongue for a little energy boost before each show. We can't slow down and we definitely don't have sick days, so to keep our immune systems going, a lot of the girls carry Vitamin-C around to mix with water.
As you can tell, we can't slow down during the day while on the USO Tour to solve little problems, so these emergency items are very much needed, along with a smile and an optimistic and hard-working attitude. You won't make it through a day of tour without any of those!
