[caption id=“attachment_4232” align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Kris Allen energized hundreds of fans Oct. 1 at Vogelweh’s Kazabra Club during his recent USO tour. (Photos by Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison, Kaiserslautern)”][/caption]

American Idol winner Kris Allen recently completed a weeklong USO tour through Europe, entertaining and signing autographs for hundreds of fans along the way.  One special stop was at the USO Warrior Center, where USO staff and volunteers hosted a lunch for Allen and 25 wounded warriors.

The wounded warriors enjoyed great food and a post-meal acoustic set of some of Allen’s most popular songs.  One wounded warrior commented, “I watch American Idol every season, so it was pretty cool meeting the winner." Check out and share this special shout out he taped there:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA7K66vzbnQ]

The tour took on special meaning for Allen, whose wife shares a special connection with the Kaiserslautern area.   “My wife lived in Ramstein. When she was a kid, her dad was in the Air Force,” Allen said to reporter Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern.

When the USO recently asked Allen and his band to take on an overseas tour to play for service members and their families in Europe, he said it was a “no-brainer.”

“We were like, absolutely, we’ll do it,” Allen said. “It’s just an honor for us to come over here and hopefully offer some entertainment. These guys give a lot for our country and this is the least we can do.”

“You’re away from family and I know that’s really hard. So, I’d like to thank you so much for what you do,” Allen said. “Just keeping working hard, it means a lot to people in America.”

AFN Europe also caught him on camera.  Enjoy this interview  by TSgt Colleen Jones, as she takes us to this Idol’s show to support the troops… [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.970533&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3D%2FPortals%2Fmain%2FMedia+Assets%2F2010%2F10+OCTOBER%2F06+OCT%2FKRISALLEN%2FKRIS+ALLEN.m4v%26displayheight%3D240%26displaywidth%3D320%E2%84%91%3D%2FPortals%2Fmain%2FMedia+Assets%2F2010%2F10+OCTOBER%2F06+OCT%2FKRISALLEN%2FKRIS-ALLEN.jpg%26backcolor%3D0x000000%26frontcolor%3D0xFFFFFF%26lightcolor%3D0xFFFFE0%26autoscroll%3Dfalse%26largecontrols%3Dfalse%26overstretch%3Dtrue%26showdigits%3Dtotal%26showdownload%3Dfalse%26linkfromdisplay%3Dfalse%26showeq%3Dfalse%26showicons%3Dtrue%26showvolume%3Dtrue%26thumbsinplaylist%3Dfalse%26autostart%3Dfalse%26bufferlength%3D6%26repeat%3Dlist%26rotatetime%3D6%26shuffle%3Dfalse%26smoothing%3Dtrue%26volume%3D80%26enablejs%3Dtrue%26javascriptid%3Dmp1435%26usefullscreen%3Dfalse%26usekeys%3Dtrue%26skin%3D%2Fcontrols%2Fmediaplayer%2Fbeelden.zip%26plugins%3Dgapro-1%26gapro.accountid%3DUA-10396539-1]