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NEWS | Oct. 18, 2010

Indiana Guardsman tours with Army's Soldier Show

By Sgt. Lorne Neff, Indiana National Guard

INDIANAPOLIS, - Indiana National Guardsman Rena Cunningham, a Soldier in the 2219th Brigade Support Company, is touring with the Army Show this year.

The show is a traveling song and dance production billed as "entertainment for the Soldier, by the Soldier."

“The show is a high energy hour and half … it’s kind of like a variety tour, like a Broadway show,” said the 20-year-old Guardsman from McCordsville, Indiana.   

This is the 27th year for the show. This year’s edition revolves around current social-media phenomena with the theme, “Soldier Show 27.0."

“It looks like you’re looking at it through a computer,” said Cunningham, who sings a variety of songs from popular artists, including Michael Jackson, Alicia Keys and Nora Jones. "It’s about releasing and watching other people have fun, which gives you back that energy in return.”

The 2010 Soldier Show schedule features 101 performances at 53 venues, including eight stops in Germany. The tour began on April 23.

Cunningham enlisted in 2009 and said she joined as a wish from her grandfather shortly before he passed away. 

She said she saw the Soldier Show at advanced individual training school and auditioned afterward with an original song she composed, and was asked to come back the following year.

Cunningham said she loves touring and working with her fellow Soldiers. “We work from 6 a.m., in the morning to 12 a.m., at night, and you really don’t get a break and you’re tired, but we’ve all become like one huge family, and like every family, they can get on your nerves, but you love them to death.”

Cunningham’s Indiana Guard family has not had much of her time … yet.  She is an automated logistics specialist and said she has only been to one drill but cannot wait to get back and start working with her unit.

Before she joined, she says she was asked to sing at Christmas parties and for troops deploying overseas here at Fort Benjamin Harrison.

“To the people that don’t know me and support our Soldiers and support the mission we are doing, I appreciate it so much, because, even if you don’t know it, you’re the ones who keep us doing what we are doing, and without you we would have no purpose,” said Cunningham.

She invited everyone to come see the show in their area.

“It’s a lot to do with morale building and making people smile,” she added. “It’s a safe haven. You’re not thinking about all the problems you have to tackle … you have a reason to smile, even if you have people deployed right now. You don’t see anyone frowning, you see a lot of energy, and we put it on for them.”

 

 

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