Carrie Underwood is one of many country music stars who has taken the stage to salute the many men and women in uniform who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. She and many other country singers are part of a movement in country music to stand tall for both active military and veterans—donating their time, talent and energy to entertaining and spreading the word about supporting military, past and present.
In an essay written for TIME magazine, Carrie Underwood talks about one of her most popular songs “See You Again.” The title of this particular essay? “The Military Family That Changed How I Sing ‘See You Again’.” You see, while writing this essay, the country singer, songwriter, and actress chose not to focus on the lyrical content of the song, her inspiration for it, or even about her performance of it during the Country Music Awards. Instead she devoted the article to her fans, but not just any fans—she talked about the fans who come from military and veteran families.
“As soon as the album came out,” Carrie relates, “I started hearing and reading the most amazing things. I would
meet fans at shows or on the street, and they would tell me how long their spouses had been deployed. I guess, somehow, hearing that song helped them see the light at the end of the tunnel, and they could keep on smiling, knowing that their loved would soon be home.” Unfortunately, some of the stories, she reports, did not have that happy ending—that reunion of loved ones.
One admirer wrote to Carrie, recounting how her whole family was supposed to see one of her performances. In a terrible turn of fate, however, this fan and her mother received the news that her father, on deployment and expected to come home, was never going to make it back home.
“I wanted to meet this young lady and her mother,” Carrie writes “so we arranged for that to happen. The mother told me the story that I already knew, and told me how much “See You Again” meant to them. I could tell that they both had amazing faith, and they knew that the most important man in their lives was looking down on them and waiting for them. I was honored to know that hearing it in my song solidified that belief a little more.”
That letter was written and published back in 2014. But this act of appreciation that Carrie shows for the men and women who enlist was not some one-off act of charity or a publicity stunt. It was a true reflection of the admiration and respect that she feels for U.S. veterans and active members—and which are continuously emboldened by the support she shows for them to this day.
Operation Homefront
Wherever there arises an opportunity to perform or show support for our veterans, Carrie is there, and she has shown nothing but joy and enthusiasm to do so. It’s no surprise that she spent this past year performing for veterans, raising money, and even going to personally meet with them and their families. As she was traveling across the country for her Storyteller Tour, Carrie had agreed to join forces with vacation cruise company, Carnival Cruise, to raise funding for Operation Homefront, an organization built to combat the problems that often plague veteran and military families in the United States.
Although recent reports from the Annual Homeless Assessment document a slight decline in the number of homeless veterans, the number logged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development still suggest an unacceptable amount of former service members who sleep without shelter on any given night (39,471 of them, in fact). Because of these startling statistics, Operation Homefront is dedicated to providing veterans with programs to aid them with rent-free housing, school supplies to help the children of military families, in addition to other programs to help wounded veterans get back on their feet.
More than simply providing a performance for these families, however, Carrie’s admiration for these men and women goes further. She personally invited them to an exclusive show in New York, held for select military families and hosted on the new Carnival Vista Cruise. Thirty-two-year-old retired Navy veteran Mo, who served as the Navy aviation electronic technician, and his wife Teresa Jones, were among these select families, and it was thanks to the conjoined effort by Carrie Underwood and Carnival Cruise that this couple were able to make their dream of being a homeowner come true. “It’s very special to us, getting to go to New York to see Carrie,” the couple told KMOV in St. Louis, “We’re so grateful that Carnival Cruise is making it happen and Carrie Underwood is making it happen.”
While these selected military members and veterans are always grateful—and often giddy—every time Carrie makes these surprises visits, Underwood is even more excited to speak with them. “As an entertainer, I get to be onstage and everybody has to listen to me … well, hopefully they want to listen to me,” she chuckles, in an interview for KMOV. “But it’s really nice for me to get to talk to people and get to hear their stories.”
Carrie Underwood joins many other country music stars who believe that giving back to those who fight for our freedom every day is not a duty but an honor.
Other Country Music Stars Taking a Stand for Veterans
It’s no secret that country music has always held a special relationship with America’s military members. Listen to just a few singers in the genre, and you’ll find that at the heart of many of their songs are patriotism, the value of American freedom, and the people in the Army, Marine Corps. Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard who work to ensure it. Some country singers themselves, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, George Strait and, of course, Elvis Presley, have served in the military. And while country music has been present for years (as far back as World War II, in fact, when the first semblance of country appeared as folk music) it’s been in and out of mainstream music, dominating in some eras and flying below the radar in others.
These past 15 years have seen a rise in popularity for country music, and with that rise, country music has continued to carry messages of thanks for our active and veteran service members. Some of country’s top names take time out to take a stand for veterans.
Trace Adkins
Top country singer Trace Adkins tries to do a USO tour almost every year. “All I can say is ‘thank you’ to veterans,” Adkins says, “and hopefully bring a smile to people’s faces every now and then, and sing some songs they may enjoy hearing and just let them know that they’re appreciated.”
For his many acts of morale boosting and charity, Adkins was presented with the Outstanding Civilian Service Award at the Chief of Staff of the Army Salute last September. “I’m just trying to do my tiny little part,” said Adkins of his award.
Adkins has been the spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project since 2008, and has also volunteered to work with Operation Homefront and other non-profit organizations.
“Many of these heroes,” he said, “struggle with visible and invisible wounds, and the Wounded Warrior Project is there to help them.” Adkins says it’s a privilege to volunteer his time to honor those who’ve served and sacrificed, especially with Operation Homefront, which provides emergency financial assistance and builds mortgage-free homes for struggling veterans.
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is known for her appearances at military and veteran benefit concerts around the country. But this past August, at one of her own concert stops, she was moved to tears by a veteran holding a sign in the audience. While singing her hit, “The House That Built Me,” Lambert noticed a sign: “3 combat tours … Your voice was the last thing I listened to EVERY NIGHT! THANK YOU!!!”
Eyes wide, Lambert stepped away from her microphone to pull the sign out of the crowd and hold it up onstage so the whole crowd could see, eliciting rousing cheers. The singer’s eyes filled with tears and she tried to continue the song but couldn’t.
Lambert later met that veteran, Jeff Tudisca, and his wife at the concert stadium for an emotional chat.
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw always has time to perform at special concerts for veterans. But McGraw takes his support one huge step further: he has already given away 144 homes to American veterans, through support from Chase and Operation Homefront.
At each of his 36 tour stops last summer, McGraw gave away a newly renovated, mortgage-free home to a deserving military family—something he has been doing for four years now.
“The return to civilian life can be a challenging transition,” says McGraw. “We want to welcome veterans home to the community they sacrificed to protect. A mortgage-free home provides stability for their families and also allows them to start this new chapter of their life with one less worry. It’s an amazing feeling to see them receive something they so deeply deserve.”
Kellie Pickler
Another star who likes to visit with the tropos—enough so that she has tattoos marking many of her military tours—is Kellie Pickler. A longtime supporter of U.S. military members and an eight-time USO tour veteran, Pickler has been selected as the first-ever recipient of the Operation Troop Aid Chris Kyle Patriot Award. The award, formerly the Operation Troop Aid Patriot Award, was renamed this year in Kyle’s honor, the late Navy SEAL and subject of the box-office hit, American Sniper. Operation Troop Aid is a non-profit military care package charity, dedicated to inspiring troops by showing that regular Americans stand with them.
“I just think it’s so important that our servicemen and women and our veterans and their families know that what they do, we don’t take for granted,” says Pickler.
George Strait
Country great and veteran George Strait has been known to stop a concert to honor our troops and the many veterans who have given their lives for our freedom. At one of his special concerts to raise funds for Wounded Warriors, he told his fans: “We are all here to raise money for the Wounded Warriors through David Feherty’s Troops First Foundation that gives quality help to our brave American wounded soldiers from the Middle East.”
He continued, “The least we can do is support these brave men and women who fight for us and we are all humbled and grateful for their service.”
Strait has always made it a priority to honor military men and women at his concerts. He, too, has had the honor of giving away mortgage-free homes to military families.
Through their efforts—flying out to Iraq to sing for the men and women serviced there, honoring veterans onstage, and acknowledging their sacrifices—these country singers are helping to ensure that U.S. service members get the recognition they deserve.