CityView Magazine

Local artist Singing for Uncle Sam By Skip Maloney W hen one conjures images of a U.S. Army soldier these days, it rarely includes s p o t l i gh ts , choreography and a performance stage. Yet, for two women stationed at Fort Bragg, that’s just what being a U.S. Army soldier has been all about for the past year. Spc. Kathrine Schaefer and Sgt. Amber Jones have just completed duty Above | Sgt.. Amber Jones, right, portrays singer Michael Jackson. Not only did the U.S. Army Soldier Show turn 25 last year, so did “Thriller.” as cast members of the 25th anniversary edition of the U.S. Army Soldier Show, which sent them on a eight-month, worldwide tour that began in April and concluded where it started, in Fort Belvoir, Va., on Nov. 11. Schaefer, who was born on Fort Bragg Above | Spc. Kathrine Schaefer claims stage fright, but she belts out a number here in the 2008 U.S. Army Soldier Show. 22|February/March • 2009 and grew up playing instruments (flute, piccolo, oboe and clarinet), received Army training as a musician. She was a member of the 440th Army Band, attached to the N.C. Army National Guard, when she submitted a video audition tape for the show in December 2007. She did so in spite of the fact that she was terrified of being on stage. “Total stage fright,” she said, “but I loved traveling.” Jones, who was born and raised in upstate New York, joined the Army with some civilian experience as a skydiver, so she opted for Army training as a parachute rigger. As it turned out, it was a duty she never actually performed. When she forwarded her audition video, she was a member of the Honor Guard of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. Prior to joining the Army, she earned a full track and field athletic scholarship from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the Atlantic Coast Conference’s discus champion in 1998.

• Cover