"This is the first time in the show's 31 years that we've deployed to a downrange location," said Army Entertainment program manager Tim Higdon. "We've had other programs go, like BRAVO! (Army Theatre Touring Company) and USA Express (a traveling cover band of active-duty Soldiers), but this is the first time the Soldier Show will deploy to a combat zone."
Also, for the first time in modern-era Soldier Show history, the show will entertain troops in South Korea, Germany and Japan in the same year, with 13 overseas performances in eight locations this autumn.
Higdon said the driving force behind the tour extension was the relevance of the 2014 "Stand Strong" Soldier Show and its ability to deliver the Army's messages.
"Stand Strong is a tribute to the strength, character and resiliency of our Soldiers," said Sgt. 1st Class Frederick McDuffy, non-commissioned officer in charge of the Soldier-performers. "With this high-energy production, we address issues that are important to the Army community."
The show includes vignettes that highlight physical readiness training, losing loved ones, battling depression, sponsoring fellow troops, precision ceremonial drills, musical history and memories of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key's writing of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" is also woven throughout the production. From the "Defence of Fort M'Henry" to troops smart-phoning home from Baghdad, "Stand Strong" illustrates how Army programs help achieve readiness among the Army community.
"We're living what our motto says, which is 'entertainment for the Soldier, by the Soldier,' and what more appropriate place for Soldiers to go entertain Soldiers than in a combat zone?" Higdon said. "It's one thing when an A-list performer comes, but that's Hollywood. They don't know what Soldiers are going through. But when a fellow Soldier comes over and does that for you, it just means something different, and it's that much more special. Not only for the Soldier doing it, but for the Soldier receiving it.
"The fact that we're getting to do that for the first time, I think, is a fulfillment of our motto."
Soldier Show performer Staff Sgt. Lynnette Collier spent a year deployed in Bagram, Afghanistan, so she knows first-hand how meaningful home-grown entertainment is to deployed troops.
She says that when entertainment arrives at forward-deployed locations "you kind of focus on just relaxing and just taking it easy and just enjoying yourself. For us to go there and to create history, and to bring the message that we're bringing to Soldiers, is such a joy."
"We're giving back," she said. "For me, it's really humbling."
http://www.army.mil/article/134810/Army_to_provide_Soldier_Show_to_deployed_troops/
By Tim Hipps, U.S. Army Installation Management Command
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