War On Terror News

Finger-pickin’ good: Soldier strums guitar, writes songs from his heart

Combined Joint Task Force 101

U.S. Army Cpl. Jamie Gold, an all-wheeled vehicle mechanic and Pearcy, Ark., native, plays his guitar and sings on Forward Operating Base Fenty in eastern Afghanistan Feb. 6. Gold, assigned to the 426th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, is on his fourth combat tour and is scheduled to redeploy in the spring. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Paula Taylor

02.06.2011 Story by Sgt. 1st Class Paula Taylor NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – He grew up in the small town of Pearcy, Ark., in a family of five and, as a teen, he found his love for music and has been playing, song writing and entertaining ever since.

His name is U.S. Army Cpl. Jamie Gold and he’s an all-wheeled vehicle mechanic assigned to the 426th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

“The first real interest in playing music was when I went to a football game, and I told my mom I would like to play music,” recalled Gold. “I heard the high school band play at halftime and that is when it all started.”

When Gold and his identical twin brother Jimie were given the option of buying a car or buying instruments, the choice for them was simple.

“We got some money for a car and bought a

En Vogue gives JBB a piece of their love

103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command

En Vogue performed for a crowd of hundreds of service members and civilians Jan. 21 at Sustainer Theater, Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Photo by Spc. Zane Craig

02.06.2011 Story by Spc. Zane Craig JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq— En Vogue performed for a crowd of hundreds of service members and civilians Jan. 21 at Sustainer Theater, Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

En Vogue consists of four members who have been making music together for more than twenty years. Some of their most popular hits include; “Whatta Man”, “(My Lovin) You’re Never Gonna Get It” and “Free Your Mind”.

Maxine Jones and Terry Ellis performed at JBB while another band mate who was scheduled to perform had to return to the U.S. at the last minute due to a loss within her family.

National Anthem botched!!

Is it too much to ask that the person singing our National Anthem in front of a crowd of thousands at an event being viewed around the world at least get the words right?

Yikes Christina!!  

 

Call me old fashioned, but that was pure torture listening to Christina butcher our National Anthem. 

I much prefer this version, where not only are the words correct, but the song is performed much closer to the way it was originally written, not some new improved version!!

I made myself sit and listen out of respect, but it was painful.   I really wish people would just sing the song the way it was written!  I know it is a very difficult song to sing.  This isn't a tryout for American Idol where improv wins you points!

Joan Jett and Kellie Pickler Rock and Lull Camp Buehring

201st Field Artillery

Staff Sgt. Aaron Sailor, assigned to 1st Battalion, 201st Field Artillery, displays his autographed pictures of Joan Jett and Kellie Pickler after the concert Sunday night at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. Photo by Sgt. Debra Richardson

01.10.2011 Story by Sgt. Debra Richardson CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait—Over four hundred service members stormed the picnic tables here an hour before the concert was due to begin in an attempt to obtain front row seats Sunday night, Jan. 9.

Hard rocker Joan Jett and country music artist Kellie Pickler conducted a crowd pleasing 2 hour show at Camp Buehring as part of a week-long USO entertainment tour for American Armed Forces serving in the Middle East.

Record Contract On Hold For Afghan Deployment

TF Knighthawk Soldier prepares for recording contract during deployment
By U.S. Army Sgt. Janell Emerson CJTF 101

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK, Afghanistan -- The origins of U.S. Army Spc. Brian Stowe’s military career isn’t much different from other soldiers’ stories.

Like many troops, Stowe, of Elkmont, Ala., joined the Army in June 2008 and attended basic and advanced individual training as a human resources specialist at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Stowe has deployed twice since his enlistment. He spent seven months in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and is currently deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom at Forward Operating Base Shank with Task Force Knighthawk, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.

But this is where his story becomes a little bit different.

Stowe’s musical ambitions have led him to earn a recording contract in the Christian Contemporary genre.

Gunny rock star

12/30/2010  By Cpl. Juan D. Alfonso, Marine Forces Pacific 

CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii — When most people see a tattoo-covered, heavy metal shirt-wearing, guitar playing rock front man, “U.S. Marine” might not be the first thing that pops in their minds.
 
Gunnery Sgt. Clinton W. Walker, supply chief for Headquarters and Service Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, has spent the last 20 years balancing his career as an active-duty Marine with his love for music.

The Texas native came from humble beginnings. His father was a mechanic and taught Walker all about cars and engines. But his love for music began at the age of 12.

Gunnery Sgt. Clinton W. Walker, supply chief for Headquarters and Service Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, and part time guitarist/ singer for the MarForPac Rock and Show Bands, asks the crowd if the music is loud enough during the Military Band Mele, May 29, at the Fort DeRussy Parade Grounds, here.
Walker has traveled and performed in several countries around the Pacific as a member of the MarForPac Band. , Cpl. Juan D. Alfonso

“My cousin took out a guitar one day and said, ‘Clint, check this out,’” Walker said. “I learned what he taught me pretty quickly and I just fell in love with it. I remember just jamming for hours and hours playing the same thing over and over again. It just grew from there.”

Inspired by artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Motley Crue and Quiet Riot, Walker honed his skills while attending high school.

Muslim-American Rapper Bridges Faith and Music

27 December 2010 Arash Arabasadi | New York City VOA News Music and religion often go hand-in-hand. The traditions of many religions bring song and prayer together to engage followers of all ages and faiths. This type of crowd participation helps create the religious experience. Often, the American popular music scene is at odds with the beliefs of devout, religious followers. But, for one American rapper, the mixing of those two worlds serves as a tool to bridge faiths, cultures and stereotypes.

Where else but in the heart of New York City could one find a Muslim, American, Irish-Iranian rapper?

Video: Christmas 1915

No doubt inspired by the 1914 Christmas Truce as well as the spirit of the season, Troops of 1915:

 The US was still years from this war.  Russia fell to the scourge of Communism.  The Honorable Soldiers of Enemies still found peace on this day.  It was a different kind of war.

"I'll 'be home' for Christmas"

Keep Our Troops in your hearts and prayers this Christmas, as they stand guard in the Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, to keep you safe:

 

Christmas in Afghanistan - "Silver Bells"

Even war cannot stop the Troops' Christmas Spirit, but many guard the walls so others may enjoy:

 Sung by Dean Martin

Zoomies Entertain Jarheads for Christmas

Touch ‘n Go brings holiday cheer to Camp Leatherneck
by Master Sgt. Brian Jones RC-SW

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- The U.S. Air Forces Central Band, “Touch ‘n Go,” spread some holiday cheer with a performance for service members here, Dec. 22.

The USAFCENT Band is the first permanently assigned Air Force Band to the CENTCOM area of responsibility. Based in Southwest Asia, the band is comprised of deployed airmen from the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Band from Sembach, Germany.

Touch ‘n Go has been performed 30 shows throughout the AOR since October. Camp Leatherneck is one of the last stops on the group’s “FOB hopping” tour of Afghanistan.

SSG Barry Sadler, Ballad of the Green Beret

Hank Williams Jr: A Country Boy Can Survive

Big & Rich: The 8th of November

Trace Adkins Sings for our Troops in Iraq

1st Infantry Division Headquarters
Story by Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Smith

Trace Adkins sings at the United States Division-South Resiliency Campus Oct. 31. Adkins has a long history of supporting service members, including making regular visits to Walter Reed Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center.   Photo by Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Smith

10.31.2010  BASRA, Iraq – A four-time Grammy Award nominee visited southern Iraq recently to play for what could arguably be his toughest crowd yet.

Trace Adkins, a country musician with nine albums that reached the top 10 on U.S. music charts, put on a show for United States Division-South troops in Basra Oct. 31.

Video: Darryl Worley "I Just Got Back from a War"

 Not all changes are caused by what is seen in war.  Many are from the apathy of those protected.

 h/t to Yankee Mom

 

Video: Garry Owen - Regimental Marching Song (7th Cavalry) HQ

 

Garry Owen - Regimental Marching Song (7th Cavalry) HQ

 

 

Tank: Save the Best for Last

305th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment  
Story by Spc. Eve Ililau

10.08.2010  BASRA, Iraq – A new kind of tank made its debut at the U.S. base near the Basra International Airport recently, and it was received with raucous applause.

Durrell Babbs, also known as Tank, has been touring military bases since September 28, making the United States Division-South Resiliency Campus in Basra his sixth, and final,
stop.

“I wanted to save the best for last,” the Milwaukee native said. “We’re always well received.”
This was Tank’s second visit to Basra.

“We thought it was really cool to come here again; it’s also a very good opportunity for us,” Tank said.

Coming to Basra “was something I couldn’t say no to,” the R&B singer said. “It made a lot of sense for me to come here because of what you all are doing out here.”

Drowning Pool rocks JBLM with free welcome home concert

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Capt. Michael Greenberger

09.26.2010  JOINT BASE LEWIS McCHORD, Wash. – Music, lights and the screams of fans filled the night sky over JBLM as the Dallas rock band Drowning Pool unleashed a furious torrent of tunes Sunday, Sept. 26.

DP front man Ryan McCombs roared into his microphone to the crowd’s delight while bass player Stevie Benton furiously slapped his bass, offering little sympathy to unprotected ears. C.J. Pierce, the band’s guitarist, offered his own version of auditory assault slashing away at his flying V guitar. In the back, Mike Luce pounded away on his signature DW drum kit, filling the air with crashing cymbals and thumping bass.

“The show was amazing,” said Spc. Amanda Scott, from Oxford, Mich., and a nurse at the Madigan Army Medical Center. “Being right in front of the band is always awesome, especially with the military shows because they (the performers) always interact with the service members, like reaching down and tagging your hand or whatever.”

RCT-7 surgeon plays harmonica to pass time in Afghanistan

Regimental Combat Team-7, 1st Marine Division Public Affairs
Story by Cpl. Skyler Tooker

09.26.2010  MARJAH, Afghanistan - Whenever Cmdr. Rodney Pray, the Regimental Combat Team 7 surgeon, has a little down time, and isn’t working with the Marines and focusing on the mission, he reaches into his pocket and pulls his harmonica out, plays a few of his favorite songs from the “Rolling Stones,” and relaxes.

Pray, 56, from Ashland, Ore., started learning how to play the harmonica back in the 70s. He said he and his friends used to go for hikes on the countryside in southern Oregon and practice their harmonicas out where no one could hear them play.

“We would take our harmonicas with us when we would hike in southern Oregon where there were giant hills and boulders all over the place,” said Pray. “We would sit on top of the giant boulders and play our harmonicas and listen to the echoes in the canyon.”

Army 'Volunteers' Make Known Arrival in Basra

Volunteers rock Basra on their first ‘combat tour’

by SSG Nathaniel Smith

USD-South: BASRA, Iraq – For the past 19 years, the U.S. Army Field Band’s ‘Volunteers’ have performed at thousands of venues across North America.

They have serenaded wounded Soldiers bedside at Army hospitals. They’ve rocked out for 100,000 spectators at major sporting events. But they had never performed in a combat zone … until this month.

The six-piece band of Soldier-musicians brought its act to southern Iraq, Sept. 15, performing contemporary country, jazz and rock and roll at the Basra Resiliency Center.

"Hammer of the Broads" Performs for Troops in Iraq

Musicians revisit Contingency Operating Base Speicher
United States Division-North
Story by Spc. Ry Norris

09.12.2010  CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Hammer of the Broads, an all-female tribute to Led Zeppelin, sent a special message to the troops of Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq, hours before they performed at the Main Gym, Sept. 8.

“Take care of yourself, get the job done, and come back safe,” said Dyna Shirasaki, the lead singer who emulates Zeppelin’s singer, Plant.

Have You Forgotten?

Making Music in Iraq

Warrior Brigade soldier produces music downrange 

Spc. Robert Michael England

2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq – The term “recording studio” spawns mental images of small, dimly lit rooms, one blanketed in an eerie silence with a lone microphone in the center, the other sporting a control panel littered with myriad dials and sliding adjusters. Staff Sgt. Raymond O’stil has redefined this term based on his environment.

O’stil, a Hayward, Calif., native and paralegal non-commissioned officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, is a music producer and recording artist that brought his talent and tools with him to Iraq.

Band provides security for Leatherneck

1st Marine Division
Story by Cpl. Daniel Blatter

08.28.2010  CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – The 1st Marine Division Band is known for performing hundreds of ceremonies each year. In 2007, they were awarded the "Col. George S. Howard Citation of Musical Excellence for Military Concert Bands,” however, here in Afghanistan, many of them can be found providing security for the thousands of service members and contractors deployed to Helmand province’s Camp Leatherneck in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

“Instead of just playing music all the time, we also do the Marine side of the house as well,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Reheard, a trumpet player for the band. “I have yet to meet a Marine bandsman who didn’t want to deploy. A lot of Marine musicians look forward to going to 1st Marine Division just to deploy.”

Whether working at the gate searching vehicles, or standing post manning a 50 caliber heavy machine gun, these 12 musicians, who deployed with 1st Marine Division (Forward), can be found pulling their weight.

Chaplains heal, sooth suffering with tunes

8/19/2010  By Lance Cpl. Jennifer Pirante, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni 

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan  — Lt. Cmdr. Juan Cometa, station chaplain, and Lt. Anthony Baker, chaplain with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, performed a musical concert for patients, families and caretakers at the Nishi Hiroshima Hospital in Otake July 21.

The concert was a part of a community relations activity, coordinated by Cometa, Baker, and the hospital administrator, who served as an interpreter.

The concert allowed the chaplains to share their musical talents as well as their love for gospel music with local Japanese hospital patients.

“It’s spiritually rewarding to see patients being ministered to by songs,” said Cometa. “Their faces just beam with joy.”

Angel Flight by Radney Foster

As one of the very few non-aircrew to have been on the "Angel Flight," I can tell you it is a very somber and important duties, requiring and deserving Honor and Respect.  I salute and respect those that accept that duty.

If I Die Tomorrow - Staind

It's My Life - Bon Jovi

Hank Williams Jr. - A Country Boy Can Survive

These Colors Don't Run - Van Zant

Love Me When I'm Gone

If I Die Before You Wake

Rapper Paul Wall, L.A. Radio Hosts Tour Iraq

1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division
Story by Pfc. Jessica Luhrs

To kick-off their tour of Iraq, they preformed an hour-long concert for hundreds of Soldiers from Fort Bliss, Texas, currently deployed to Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq, Aug. 5.

In a previous interview, Paul Wall, who has visited the Middle East on four separate USO tours, said each performance is very personal for him.

“My grandfather was a lieutenant colonel in the military, and I grew-up in a very small family,” he said. “He was all I knew for a long time, and I have a lot of friends who were in the military.”

DJ E-Man and Big Boy, both of the Los Angeles Power 106 radio station, agreed with Paul Wall saying they are both very happy to be in Iraq.

Bad Company by Five Finger Death Punch-Baghdad

‘Rebel Within’ is an outlaw country masterpiece

By Cpl. Rich Barkemeyer
Expeditionary Times Staff

 If there’s one thing in this world that I love, it’s outlaw country music. I’m not talking about Sugarland or Taylor Swift here; this is the wilder, dirtier side of country music, made popular in the ‘70s by artists like Waylon Jennings, David Allan Coe, and Willie Nelson. Even though outlaw country doesn’t compete on the charts with the Carrie Underwoods of the world, some in Nashville are still running with the torch.

 

Hank Williams III is one of those artists. Known by fans as Hank 3, he’s the grandson of Hank Williams, and the son of Hank Williams, Jr., so his musical pedigree is well-established. His latest release, “Rebel Within,” is another solid addition to his catalog, and the best record to come out of Nashville since, well, his last album.

Hooah! Radio

Radio Station Designed for Deployed Troops Becomes Internet Hit

7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Spc. Ken Scar

08.05.2010  FORT HOOD, Texas -- Army Staff Sgt. Deon Williams is a large man with a booming voice who likes to broadcast himself - and when he does people listen. He also takes requests.

His natural talents serve him well as an in-processing non-commissioned officer at the Fort Hood Reception Detachment, but Williams also happens to be the central Texas area’s representative disc jockey on what is perhaps the most unique radio station in the country, Hooah! Radio.

Hooah! Radio is a free, internet-based radio station that exists specifically to “bridge the gap” between Soldiers serving in the wars overseas and their homeland. It is on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is accessible

‘The Oracle’: A textbook example of metal gone wrong

By Cpl. Rich Barkemeyer

Expeditionary Times Staff

 

I really can’t explain why I bought “The Oracle,” the latest release by Godsmack.

I’ve never liked this band. Going all the way back to their debut in 1998, I’ve thought they were painfully derivative, combining the worst elements of post-“Black album” Metallica (namely the vocals) with boring, uninspired guitar work, and lyrics full of tough-guy posturing. Godsmack doesn’t have an original bone in their collective bodies; even their name was taken from an Alice in Chains song.

‘Flag Ship’ Band Rocks Odessa During Sea Breeze

U.S. Naval Forces Europe, 6th Fleet Public Affairs
Story by Lt.j.g. Gary Keen

07.23.2010  ODESSA, Ukraine—Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe rock band ‘Flag Ship’ performed a free concert for the local Odessa community at Gorsad Garden, here, July 22 during exercises Sea Breeze 2010.

The concert was part of a community relations project designed to share some of the American culture with local community.

“We come out to support the Navy’s positive image and share the American culture with the Ukrainian people,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Wirt, a musician, lead guitarist and leading petty officer. “Sea Breeze is wrapping up and we want the Ukrainian people to learn a little more about Americans than what they see on T.V. and read on the Internet.”

Ja Rule Performs for Service Members in Iraq

1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division

Story by Pfc. Jessica Luhrs

07.20.2010  FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Iraq – During his two-week USO/Armed Forces Entertainment sponsored tour of Iraq, hip hop star, Ja Rule, performed for hundreds of service members on the stage at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, July 19.

Before the show began “Ready First” Commander, Col. Larry Swift and the “Ready First” Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. James P. Daniels,