Photo By Maj. Marvin Baker | Cpl. Seannon Mosenden, 1st of the 167th Infantry out of Talladega, Ala., gets an...... read more read more
KABUL, Afghanistan — A country music star plays a toe-tapping song for troops at one coalition base here. A quartet of Olympic gold medal athletes poses for photographs at another camp.
These are two examples of the morale-building events troops in Task Force Centurion enjoyed during their nine-month deployment to Afghanistan.
Last month, country music artist Craig Morgan conducted a 10-day tour of Afghanistan, performing at outposts and camps housing anywhere between 300 and 3,000 service members. The overseas music tour was the tenth for the former Army airborne soldier.
“Craig comes here for the right reasons,” said Judy Seale, president of Stars for Stripes, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality celebrity entertainment to internationally deployed U.S. military forces. “He used to be in the Army, so he knows what the soldiers are going through here.”
For the past eight years, Seale said, the organization has produced more than 50 tours with the military’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation and Armed Forces Entertainment agencies.
“This work fills my heart,” Seale said. “I have never brought an entertainer here who didn’t want to come back.”
For troops such as Spc. Joshua Holt, a military police officer with the Georgia Army National Guard’s 179th Military Police Company, watching a Craig Morgan concert in Afghanistan was a big boost for morale.
“It was a good time,” Holt said. “The concert reminded me of when I saw him perform in the States and made me forget, for a while, where I was.”
In January, four Olympic gold medalists from the U.S. rowing, water polo and wrestling teams traveled to Kabul for a multi-day trip to meet with troops.
Armed Forces Entertainment, an official Department of Defense agency, coordinated the Olympic Heroes Tour. The agency is responsible for recruiting and transporting entertainers who volunteer their time to support troops with a well-deserved break.
“These tours are entertainment for the troops, but life-changing for the entertainers,” Seale said.
For more information on Armed Forces Entertainment, visit www.armedforcesentertainment.com.
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.03.2013 04:51 |
| Story ID: | 104519 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 714 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Celebrities help keep troops’ morale high in Afghanistan, by MAJ Marvin Baker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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