Deployed Soldier Meets Wrestling Diva He Once Tried to Recruit

By Army Spc. Tiffany Evans
Special to American Forces Press Service

Iraq, Dec. 8, 2008 - Iraq can seem like a world away to deployed troops -- certainly not the place you would expect to run into someone from back home. But sometimes it is a small world, even in Iraq. Or so it seemed to Army Sgt. Kenneth Cisson, a task force squad leader, when he met up with World Wrestling Entertainment diva Kelly Kelly on Dec. 5. Kelly had just finished a show with the WWE Superstars here when Cisson saw her for the first time in two years. Cisson and Kelly are both from Jacksonville, Fla., and Cisson tried to recruit her into the Army while working at her high school.

"I remember trying to talk her into joining the Guard or reserves for extra money while she was in college," Cisson said of working at Kelly's high school during her senior year.

Little did he know after he left Jacksonville that Kelly had become famous through the WWE. His cousin called him and told him the news.

"I never imagined her as a wrestler; she was a cheerleader and worked as a waitress back home," Cisson said. "I found out she was one of the divas coming and hoped I would get the chance to see her."

They did see each other after the event and caught up on their hometown, people they knew and what's been going on in each other's lives since they last saw each other.

"Watching the show and running into Kelly was like a breath from home," Cisson said. "I went to the show with my squad to support these entertainers who love us enough to come visit while we are deployed, and in the process, I got to see a hometown girl who made it famous."

(Spc. Tiffany Evans serves in the Multinational Division Center public affairs office.)