Photo By Spc. Bianca Calderon | Soldiers of the 167th Theater Sustainment Command enjoy the presence of Capt. Jody...... read more read more
FORT MCCLELLAN, Ala. - It is bad enough growing up in poverty in Opelika, Ala., but Capt. Jody Fuller had another obstacle to overcome as well. Capt. Fuller, the soldier-comedian who makes part of his living talking to large groups of people, cannot speak without stuttering. Fuller refused to allow poverty and stuttering keep him from success, but that success did not happen overnight.
He started college in 1990 but dropped out after one quarter.
“I didn’t do too well and really needed some discipline,” he said.
He decided to enter military service, and took the ASVAB test.
“The Army was actually the first door,” he said. “I had done pretty well on the ASVAB test and was thinking about the Air Force. An Army guy standing near me said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ So, off to the Army I went.”
He served from 1992 until 1996 as an Army medic. The focus and discipline he developed as a soldier helped him return to Alabama and attend Auburn University-Montgomery, graduating in August 2001 with a degree in business administration. Less than one month later, Fuller’s life would take yet another turn.
“I had just graduated from college and didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with my life,” he said. “After the terrorists attacked our country, I went back to the Army, attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., and became an officer.”
In 2003, he deployed to Iraq for one year as a platoon leader with the 296th Brigade Support Battalion of the Army’s First Stryker Brigade.
While waiting to attend OCS in March 2002, he attended a comedy club in Birmingham, Ala., with friends. It happened to be an “open mic” night and they encouraged him to take a stab at it. He did and it actually went pretty well. He had caught the entertainment bug.
“I had always used humor to deflect from my stuttering,” he said. “When I did the amateur thing at the comedy club I thought, hey, I can do this.”
He continued trying his hand at amateur comedy over the next several years and decided to try to make it a career when he got out. After his commitment to the regular Army was finished in 2006, he returned to Alabama and joined the Alabama Army National Guard. His plan was to continue to serve his country while attempting to establish himself as a comic. Instead, he found himself part of a unit slated to deploy, once again, to Iraq.
“It seemed as if each time I was getting established as a comic, another deployment would come up,” he said. “It turned out all right because I got to entertain my fellow Soldiers while we were overseas and it turned out to be a great place to practice and hone my craft.”
In spite of the deployments, his last one ended in January 2011, Fuller’s career seems to be taking off.
“I am gone all the time now,” he said. “I’ve performed or spoken all over the southeast from Texas to Missouri to Virginia to Florida and all points in between,” he said.
Fuller has an agent to line up his military gigs as well as one who handles his college gigs. He acts as his own agent for everything else.
In 2009, he had the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar and the United Emirates with Armed Forces Entertainment.
“It was cool because I saw a lot of people I had served with in the military. My military career has greatly helped me with my comic routine. Besides getting great material to use, I also get to use my stuttering as part of my act to bring attention to the problem,” he said.
Next month he starts a tour with Army Entertainment, traveling to 15 different bases between August and December.
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., is one of the stops. Fuller graduated from basic training there in August 1992.
“That will be cool,” he said. “It will be my first time back there since I tried to dig holes in that hard ground.”
Fuller says his life goal is to be happy, to entertain people and to make a difference.
“My goal is not to be famous; I really want to make a difference in people’s lives. Stuttering can be a debilitating thing to grow up with, and I am a living example that you can overcome obstacles.”
“Most of us will never overcome the stuttering itself but we can overcome the challenges,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2012 18:17 |
| Story ID: | 92873 |
| Location: | FORT MCCLELLAN, AL, US |
| Web Views: | 567 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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