This is yours truly playing in the 82nd Airborne Division Band at "Camp Bed Rock", an Air Force field installation at King Fahd Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia. We deployed to the Persian Gulf along with the rest of the Division and remained through-out operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While deployed, we not only entertained thousands of troops, but we also performed many security and other war time functions. Such functions included processing enemy prisoners of war (EPW's) and we went into Iraq right along with our fellow paratroopers. While relatively few Army bandsmen ever have occasion to perform such duties in a real combat mission, all of them train for such duties extensively during their stay at the Armed Forces School of Music, one of the longest AIT's (advanced individual training) that the Army has to offer. While few of us ever expected to be sitting where we were in this picture when we joined the Army band, it was an understood possibility that we all accepted when we joined. None of us took being where we were lightly and there was always a gas mask strapped on (or under the chair for this performance) and a weapon well with-in reach.

All Army Bandsmen must first successfully complete BCT (Basic Combat Training) just like everyone else that joins the army. Above is a picture of my Basic Training Company, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Airborne Ranger Infantry Regiment (really an honorary title reminiscent of the original WWII unit, since it was a training unit), Fort Dix, New Jersey, on August 31st, 1989.

The second from the right, on the front rank is yours truly. Not only was this the day I graduated from basic training, but it was also my 18th Birthday. I can't think of a better birthday present than to get the hell out of that place.

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