rapid fire

Spouse Spotlight

Deidra Stubbs is the wife of Army Col. Jeremiah Stubbs, M.D., who practices occupational/environmental medicine at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. She calls herself a “dedicated Army wife” but admits she has come into her own only recently, after she and 49 other military spouses, all members of the American Military Spouses Choir, let their voices shine on NBC’s America’s Got Talent.

How long have you been singing? I have actually been singing quite a while. I started singing in church when I was little. Since then, I have done quite a bit of studio work as well as commercial jingles and things like that. It’s just something I enjoy doing.

How was the American Military Spouses Choir formed? It was put together by an organization called CAMMO [Center for American Military Music Opportunities], which works to provide music therapy to soldiers with PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Medical science has recently determined that music activates little neurons in the brain, and as soon as those neurons are activated, recovery can start. It all started with emails that circulated over this concept, and pretty soon we had spouses all over the country who wanted to participate. And soon we were practicing with some spouses locally and others via Skype.

How has being a military spouse influenced your experience? After we got to the semifinals [of America’s Got Talent], Howie Mandel said something that none of us cared for, that votes should be for us and not for who we are married to — and that’s very true. But in reality, what our husbands do inspires us to do what we do. All of us so deeply love our husbands, and we support what they do. This is just our way of expressing ourselves about our love for them and our belief in what they do.
— Michael W. Michelsen Jr.

DIGITAL EXTRA

Hear Stubbs sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Click here and skip ahead to 3:30 to hear Stubbs’ solo.

Attention!

Check out these military-related entertainment offerings.

DVD
LONE SURVIVOR (Universal Studios, 2014) Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level al-Qaida operative face an impossible moral decision. Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, and Emile Hirsch star in this action-packed film based on the true story of Marcus Luttrell.

BOOK
8 WEEKS TO SEALFIT: A NAVY SEAL’S GUIDE TO UNCONVENTIONAL TRAINING FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TOUGHNESS (St. Martin’s Press, 2014) Navy SEAL Cmdr. Mark Devine offers beginner to advanced training regimens, photos of exercises, and techniques for training.

BOOK
TELL MY SONS: A FATHER’S LAST LETTERS (Ballantine Books, 2013) When author Army National Guard Lt. Col. Mark Weber received a cancer diagnosis at 38, he wrote a letter to his three boys. This book is that letter, and it counsels its readers to live ordinary lives in an extraordinary way.
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