Toby Keith’s Daughter Says She Begged To Join Him In The Middle East, But He Refused
Toby Keith was a passionate supporter of the United Services Organization (USO)
While nurturing a thriving country music career, founding a non-profit organization, and maintaining his role as husband and father, Toby Keith always made time to support the troops overseas.
During the course of his career, Toby went on 18 USO tours in more than a dozen different countries, performing for over 250,000 troops. Some of those trips even took him into active war zones, but his pride for his country never wavered.
His dedication to the cause was recognized in April 2014 when he was surprised with the Spirit of the USO Award.
Let’s remember and honor Toby Keith, who received the Spirit of the USO Award for his passionate support of our military. Toby performed for our deployed men and women serving overseas on 18 USO tours performing for over 250,000 service members. #tobykeith pic.twitter.com/bypUpiQPWx
— Veterans Heritage Learning Center (@nhvhlc) February 7, 2024
Toby’s daughter Krystal wanted to join him on USO tours
Toby Keith’s daughter, Krystal, recalled in a recent conversation with Fox News that she often wanted to join her dad on his trips overseas.
“As I became an artist, I was like, ‘Hey, I want to go do those things,’ and he still, as much as it meant to him, and he knew how important it was for him, he was still like, ‘Hard pass on my daughter going to Afghanistan right now,’ because he had been shot. I mean, his helicopters had been shot at. He had been in the middle of shows when mortar fire came down.”
In 2008, Toby Keith was playing for 2,500 troops in Afghanistan when the base came under mortar fire, forcing him and the troops to take cover in a concrete bunker for over an hour. Krystal recalls finding a picture from that day that her father had signed and dated to remember the ordeal.
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On another occasion, Toby was aboard a military helicopter when the pilot unexpectedly maneuvered to avoid small arms fire in the air.
Krystal added that even though she begged, the country music icon went into “dad mode” and was unwilling to put her in danger for the sake of the experience.
Krystal Keith often joined her father on tour in the U.S.
Even though she never joined him overseas, Krystal was fortunate to have many opportunities to perform with Toby Keith before he passed away.
“He loved the USO tours, and I wish that I would have been able to go on some of those… I did spend time on tour with him. I opened for him from the time I was 14 on.”
She adds:
“I’d either sneak out and do background vocals on a song, and no one ever knew I was there, it was just for me, or I would go out and do the anthem before he went on. Then, when I put my album out, we actually were the opening band for several tours.”
Krystal fondly remembers that despite his musical success, her dad never tried to force her one way or another but, instead, would only give her advice when she asked for it. She shares:
“He really let me carve my own path and … he rarely was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea for you.’ He just always let me come to my own ideas and lead things the way I wanted to lead them.”
See clips from the interview here!
