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USO to open lounge at Las Vegas airport

LAS VEGAS — Retired military man Barry Lingle was traveling through Philadelphia when he noticed a USO center at the airport.

He liked what he saw: showers, bunks, a lounge area and a welcoming atmosphere for service members.

Later, when he arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, he saw a lone soldier sitting in a dark corner.

“My feeling was: What is wrong with us that we don’t have a facility for men and women?” Lingle, 70, said.

That will change soon.

After years of false starts, a USO lounge is expected to open within six months in a vacant space at the Las Vegas airport, which is 17th this year in an Airports Council International ranking of the world’s busiest airports for passenger traffic.

USO officials recently inspected a former US Airways executive suite and determined that it could be quickly converted to a rest stop for traveling military personnel.

“I can’t imagine it will be open later than September,” USO spokesman John Hanson said.

The project is set to go out to bid by May, and renovation should be underway by summer, Hanson said. It probably will cost considerably less than the USO’s initial $1.5 million estimate, because the former suite already has some amenities, he said.

Peter Christoff, a veterans’ advocate, argued that the 2,000-square-foot space needs little more than new carpet and a coat of paint.

It has restrooms, utility hookups, lounge areas and a snack bar with a counter and refrigerated deli case, he said.

Hanson said he wasn’t sure whether showers could be installed there, and those might not be necessary.

McCarran could arrange to have a nearby hotel provide showers, he said.

USO officials will put together an advisory committee including veterans’ advocates, business people and military officials to deal with construction and operational issues.

Earlier attempts by veterans’ groups to create an airport rest stop for the military stalled, causing frustration.

In November, Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak brought together veterans’ advocates and politicians to revitalize the effort. In January, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and USO officials announced the military welcome center would materialize at the airport.

At the time, Steve Sanson, president of Veterans in Politics, criticized Reid, saying he showed little interest in the center until his polling numbers were down in an election year.

Sanson, a Republican running for Clark County public administrator, said he wants the center to open as quickly as possible.

“We all want the same thing, the betterment of veterans coming through McCarran,” he said.

Sanson said more than 700 people have expressed interest in volunteering to help veterans, including at the military lounge. Lingle said many retired veterans in the subdivision where he lives are eager to volunteer.

Hanson said recruiting volunteers isn’t as hard as finding donors to pay for upkeep, supplies and one or two salaried workers to oversee the facility.

USO is careful to choose locations where there’s strong public support, he said. “It gets really emotional quickly if we have to close one.”