Milo Ventimiglia spent nearly a week recently on a USO tour, hanging out with troops in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

“The tendency is for people to just read the news and talk about the war,” Milo said of the trip. “That wasn’t enough for me. To be able to come out here and say ‘thank you’ was important to me. It made me really happy to see smiling faces. That’s what it is all about, knowing I made their day.”

The Heroes actor added:

“My father’s a veteran, my uncle’s a veteran, my grandfather was a veteran. I nearly went into the Navy myself when I was 18. So I got a chance to go overseas and give the men and women of the armed forces a little bit of a respite."

Turns out, numerous troops follow the hit NBC show whenever they can, too.

“When I was over in Iraq and Afghanistan, a lot of soldiers were like, `Dude, will you just kill Sylar already? Will you just get rid of him?’ And I’m like, `Man, I don’t know if you’re gonna want that just yet. I think you’re going to be very surprised as to what happens.’”