“Everyone was just ignoring him, and the line was so long,” recalls Sandy Lashua, who works the lost-and-found window at the airport. “The line to the ticket counter that day must have been 45 minutes long. So I stood up and started clapping.”

She apologizes for getting a little choked up as she thinks back.

“They looked at me, wondering what I was clapping for, and then they turned around and they saw him. And then some other people to started to clap, and slowly they let him come down to the front of the line.”

Some folks have strong feelings about the military. Sandy Lashua’s dad served in World War II and the Korean War. “He passed away in 1991.” Her husband did 30 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as the group sergeant major for the West Coast. The problem with the kids in uniform gets worst during the heat of the summer and during the holidays, Sandy explains. Often flying standby, the servicemen arrive at McCarran and wait for their connections.

And wait.

“Over the holiday season we had several of them who had to sleep in the airport. Some of them were here three or four days, just sleeping on the floor, just waiting. Sometimes they’ll wait two or three days for someone to pick them up and take them to Barstow or Twentynine Palms. A lot of them ask for a USO and we don’t just have one. Most larger airports have a USO club, already.”

Sometimes an airport employee will go to Burger King or another of the concessionaires and ask if they can provide a meal, “which we’re not supposed to do,” Sandy explains. “Because we’re county employees, we’re not supposed to provide money or services to traveling passengers.”

So Sandy has joined up with Chuck Lombardo, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant who also works at McCarran, to try to drum up some local support for a USO club there.

Both stress they’re doing this as private citizens, not as representatives of the airport, which has entered into negotiations with them, looking for some free space.

“It’s pathetic,” Chuck says. “We don’t have chairs. They sit on the floor on their duffel bags. And our biggest problem isn’t really Nellis, it’s Twentynine Palms and Fort Irwin. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays there are no rooms downtown, and it’s appalling, One night we were able to find some rooms, going for $500, for $2,000. It’s kind of hard to believe we can’t do anything. I’m talking to you from the waterfront on Catalina Island and we’re only paying $150 a night here.”

A place to call home, to use a computer, to watch TV, “someplace for the kids to kick back, a nice private place where they can sit down in a chair and take a nap, kind of like what the airline VIP lounges offer, depending on the space, maybe a pool table” Chuck explains.

“The kids desire basically just a place to get off the floor and relax for four or five hours. I had a lady sailor come in there, she just wanted someplace where she could go with her kids. Usually there’s free sandwiches, a little soda machine so they can get something to drink, admission is just by military ID card, military and retired military.”

Doesn’t sounds like too much to ask.

“The USO is a private nonprofit organization. And before they will allow a franchise they want not only public support indicating that it’s wanted and needed, they also need documentation that we do support the military,” Chuck Lombardo explains. “They want reassurance from the airport and community that this thing will be maintained. ... In order to get the USO to even come out here, we’ve got to prove to their headquarters that the city of Las Vegas wants a USO.

Organizers aren’t seeking any money, yet. All they’re asking for are letters of support, addressed to: USO Support Committee, P.O. Box 90238, Henderson, NV, 89009-0238.

“I know the airlines when they have to cancel a flight, they can get reservations. I’m sure they’re not paying $300 a night,” Chuck says. “That’s something else that eventually I’d like to get set up, and I’d also like to have the Greyhound Bus make a stop there at the airport. They have a bus that goes to California at 1:45 in the morning.”