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All eyes on Cher on Capitol Hill

She attended hearing on effectiveness of soldiers’ helmets

HELMUT SAFETY CHER
Cher embraces Dr. Bob Meaders prior to a House Armed Service Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 15 on the use of combat helmets, vehicle armor and body armor by ground forces in Iraq.
Dennis Cook / AP
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updated 7:30 p.m. ET June 15, 2006

WASHINGTON - The subject was whether to modify helmets for soldiers in Iraq, but all eyes were on Cher.

As photographers clicked away, the singer and actress entered a Capitol Hill hearing room through a back door 20 minutes after the session was scheduled to start. The hearing soon got under way.

Cher has donated more than $130,000 to the group Operation Helmet, which pays about $100 to modify the inside of soldiers’ helmets to make them better able to absorb shock from a bomb blast.

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Cher, wearing a white lace top under a black pant suit, looked solemn as she sat behind the group’s founder, Dr. Bob Meaders, while he testified. Meaders said she didn’t want to cause a distraction by testifying herself.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, noted that Cher’s ex-husband, the late Rep. Sonny Bono, had served on the subcommittee. He called it a “special irony and really great tribute” to have her there.

The Army now equips its soldiers with padded helmets designed to be shock absorbent. The Marine Corps has commissioned a study to determine whether to change its helmets but has said the ones Marines use now are effective.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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