As we mentioned in an earlier post, UCLA head football coach Rick Neuheisel traveled to the Middle East with six other coaches at the end of May to visit with US Armed Forces troops and their families. Here are a few photo highlights from the trip as part of Coaches Tour 2009.

Rick Neuheisel, Jim Grobe (Wake Forest), Mack Brown (Texas), General Arthur Licthe, Troy Calhoun (Air Force), Tommy Tuberville (Coach Emeritus), Jim Tressel (Ohio State), Houston Nutt (Ole Miss)

Coaches Rick Neuheisel and Tommy Tuberville listen intently to their mission briefing in General Lichte’s office.

Coach Neuheisal visitng with troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American military hospital in Europe.

Coaches Neuheisel and Nutt.

To see more photos, you can download this PDF file. It is over 6MB in size so be patient.

Finally, here is a video with some additional highlights. Coach Neuheisal isn't featured much but there is a great shot of him teeing off from one of Saddam's palaces.

Coach Rick Neuheisel, along with 6 fellow college football coaches, returns to the United States today after traveling in the Middle East to meet with U.S. troops and their families for Coaches Tour 2009.

While staying in Iraq, coaches Rick Neuheisel (UCLA), Jim Tressel (Ohio State), Mack Brown (Texas), Jim Grobe (Wake Forest), Troy Calhoun (Air Force), Houston Nutt (Ole Miss) and Tommy Tuberville (previously with Auburn) departed their airplane in full Kevlar body armor and spent their nights in a palace formerly belonging to Saddam Saddam Hussein... in the same room... in bunk beds. Nice.

UCLA football office intern David Raih is also on tour with the coaches and wrote about getting ready for the trip and provided a mid-trip update.

This is something we will definitely have to ask Coach about when he is in town for Campus Connection on June 20.