Actor Vince Vaughn recently visited Edwards Air Force Base, California, to show an advanced screening of “Unfinished Business.” The visit was coordinated through the USO, with which Vaughn became associated after Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan:

The death of the pro-football-player-turned-soldier really affected him, he said, and he immediately called the USO to see if he could bring his then-new comedy, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” to the troops.

The call led to his first USO tour, in June 2004. The following year, he traveled the world screening “Wedding Crashers” for servicemembers.

In an offhand comment, Vaughn “laughed as he told airmen” that he was surprised to find many deployed troops had already seen his movie during his first USO tour — via pirated versions.

Vaughn laughed as he told the airmen that on his first USO tour, shortly after “Dodgeball” was released, he was surprised that many deployed servicemembers had already seen the movie — illegally recorded versions purchased overseas. This time, he said, he hoped he was able to actually give troops their first look at his new movie…

Vaughn seemed to have a good-natured reaction to the story, but the fact remains original artists aren’t compensated when their movies are pirated. (Of course, there’s also the minor detail that copying and selling movies is illegal.)

This extraordinarily common occurrence has been discussed here before, as it relates to ethical behavior: Do the Right Thing: Bootleg Movies and Deployed Troops.  The short version, for those innocent souls who have never considered this before:  Neither US troops in general nor Christians in particular should purchase pirated movies.

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