America's North Shore Journal

On tele­vi­sion, actor Jeff Dono­van plays a defunct spy who has exper­tise in explo­sives and weapons.

Recently, how­ever, at Com­bat Out­post Meade, south of Bagh­dad, it was Dono­van who took point­ers from the Sol­diers of 113^th Field Artillery Bat­tal­ion, 30^th Heavy Brigade Com­bat Team.

Dono­van was accom­pa­nied by Don Camp­bell, mil­i­tary advi­sor for the tour, and Bruce Camp­bell, Don Campbell's brother, and also a cast mate of Donovan.

Bruce Camp­bell is a star in his own right, from films such as, "Army of Dark­ness," and "Bubba Hotep." Both Dono­van and Bruce Camp­bell appear on the USA net­work tele­vi­sion show, "Burn Notice."

Dur­ing their visit at COP Meade, Bruce Camp­bell and Dono­van tried their hand at the fir­ing range and met with Sol­diers as part of a morale, wel­fare and recre­ation tour through­out Iraq.

"Every­body should sup­port the troops," said Bruce Campbell.

Only a few min­utes after land­ing in a UH-60 Black Hawk, the two actors were greeted by cheers and shouts, "Hey Bruce!"

"Hi guys, how is it going," said Bruce Camp­bell as he and Dono­van walked into a main­te­nance bay.
The Sol­diers were appre­cia­tive as the actors posed for pho­tos and signed autographs.

"It was inspir­ing because some­body cares enough to come here and enter­tain us," said Sgt. Micah Joseph, a human resources spe­cial­ist from Char­lotte, N.C.

Bruce Camp­bell and Dono­van were as inter­ested in the Sol­diers as the Sol­diers were of them, tak­ing nearly as many pho­tos and ask­ing as many ques­tions of the Soldiers.

"I am impressed by indi­vid­u­als I have met; how men­tally strong they are," said Dono­van. "It takes a cer­tain men­tal­ity to do the job out here from the bore­dom to sud­den violence."

Dono­van tried on one of the Soldier's body armor.

"You don't have to work out, just carry the weapon and armor," Dono­van said while wear­ing the armor.

Later, the actors went to the fir­ing range for an oppor­tu­nity to fire an M-249 Squad Auto­matic Weapon, the M-4 rifle and an M-9 pis­tol. After a short safety brief­ing, the actors put in earplugs and fired the weapons safely down range.

After another quick ori­en­ta­tion and brief, Dono­van then climbed atop an armored humvee, dropped into the gunner's tur­ret, and fired the M-240-Bravo machine gun once the range was cleared for fir­ing again. The actor had to make some slight adjust­ments at first.

"It was a learn­ing expe­ri­ence," said Donovan.

"It is more fun out here than fir­ing on a film set," Bruce Camp­bell said. "We have edi­tors who make sure we always hit the target."

The three all have ties to the mil­i­tary. Donovan's father served in Viet­nam and Korea, and Don Camp­bell cur­rently serves in the reserves.

Don Camp­bell, who has 28 years in the mil­i­tary, tours with his brother and helps the actors with a few point­ers. "When Bruce vol­un­teered I told him what to expect; mil­i­tary dos and don'ts, Arab cul­ture," Don Camp­bell said.

He also showed broth­erly con­cern as well. "I told him what could hap­pen; there is no guar­an­tee of a safe jour­ney," Don Camp­bell said.

Don Camp­bell and the actors vis­ited an Iraqi bazaar that sup­ported local wid­ows and orphans in the area. Bruce Camp­bell, and Dono­van greeted some of the Iraqi Sol­diers who train along­side U.S. Sol­diers on the COP.

After the two hour visit, the three men went to the heli­pad to catch a ride to the next post on the tour.

Bruce Camp­bell left with a mes­sage for his fel­low actors back in the U.S.

"Every­body should go, there is noth­ing more real than a war," he said.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Robert Jordan