Steel Guitar Deployment

[Jeff Valentine]

-Dave, that's great news. At least she's chosen a profession that will always be in demand. We'll never have enough good doctors.

-Greg, it's nice to hear that story. The drummer back then was Scotty Barbier, who just retired less than a year ago. He was in for 30 years. He was probably the only one that was in the country band back then. They probably hired Ed Price, the steeler before me, around that time. One of the guys traveling with us is actually from Branson. He's with us to help with travel and logistical things, and his name is Karl Bradley. Thanks for chiming in, Greg.

I'm posting some new pictures that span about a week from the back half of March.



- This first picture is just a shot of the band posing for a picture before our second show at that base that I can't talk about.... It's a secret, but you can see pictures of it on google maps.... Some countries allow us to be there but don't want their friends to know they're doing it. That's the basic truth.



- Here's a picture of some people listening to us as we play. You can see some of the tents where people sleep in the background.



- Here's me on my bed in the tent. Sometimes you could actually get a wifi signal in there. We all stayed in the same tent, and were lucky enough to actually have beds and covers. We found out later that wasn't always the case.



- We were booked on a flight to leave the base, so our pallet was packed up and sent to the airport. That flight was canceled and rescheduled for two days from then.... We didn't have any gear, but didn't want to just sit around doing nothing. The chapel on base had a couple of acoustic guitars and a little drum they let us borrow. Here's a picture of us playing for the guys who work at the chow hall. They're called "TCNs", or third country nationals. These guys were mostly from Pakistan and India. This was probably the first time they had ever heard live country music. I'm a pretty bad guitar player, but I hung in there. Stephen is awesome, which helped to cover me up....



- That same night we went out to play for some of the security forces on the outskirts of the base. It was about midnight here.



- Here's a picture of us getting on a C130 to finally get back to our home base. You can see our sound engineer, Janusz, putting in his ear plugs.



- This is just a picture out the window of the C130. As usual, you see lots of brown down there.

Again, thanks for being part of this ongoing post. We're off on another trip soon, and I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to post any pictures while we're gone. Hopefully I'll at least be able to get online somewhere and check it. I'll also include a link to Wild Blue Country's Facebook page. If you go there, keep in mind you'll see farther into our deployment since I started doing this later. If you comment on there, it would be cool if you mention you heard about it on the forum. They didn't think anyone would really be on here..... Let's show em!

-Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Blue ... 2973843091

[Jeff Valentine]

Hello All,

Here's another set of pictures to bring us more into April.


- I figured I'd finish my Johnny Cash autobiography while I was on the C17 to Saudi Arabia.



- On the ground for a long layover in Kuwait on our way to Saudi.



- Finally on the ground on the flight line in Saudi. We sat there for a while until they figured out what to do with us....



- This is a toilet at King Khaled Airport in Saudi. I suggest holding it if you can....



- This is the armored SUV used to take us to and from the ambassador's house in Riyadh. One of our big gigs for this trip was to entertain the guests at his house for an American Independence Day Party. They celebrate it early because it's just too hot apparently to do it in July. Most of the Saudi locals leave the country, and this party was mostly to entertain them. The band isn't always used for troop support missions. Sometimes we play at big functions to entertain the local people as a gesture of friendship.



- Setting up our gear at the ambassador's house.



- Our performance that night.



- The crowd was quite a cultural mix.



- So, how many mattresses can you pack into the back of a tiny truck? Well, at least this many I suppose...

Thanks again. I'll post more soon.

-Jeff

[Mark van Allen]

Great tales and photos, Jeff. I know those far-flung folks are overjoyed to hear your music so far from home! I'll try to answer you about the DOD tours without hijacking your thread too far!
I did stateside tours in the 80's with The Zassoff Boys from South Carolina including a 2 1/2 month airbase tour around nearly the whole circumference of the country.
I put together a band with singer Donna Watson specifically for overseas D.O.D. tours in '95, and we did a Mid East tour of Egypt, Saudi, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Italy, Crete, and more, then later the Far East with a month in Korea, a month in Japan, and Okinawa, Hawaii and the amazing Johnston Island. I later did tours of Central America with Jody Lynn to Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guantanamo, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Vieques Island.

Your photos bring many memories back, including a private party for the C.I.A. at the Athens Embassy, and "country night" with hay bales and cowboy hats at the Ambassador's residence in Tegucigalpa, while insurgent explosions were going off across the valley.
As I'm sure it is for you, we met many lonely, disillusioned servicemen and -women who were extremely grateful for entertainment and news from home. I can't believe how isolated and "distant" the places are where these young kids need to serve, and I just became more and more grateful for their sacrifice and service. Places like Incirlik, Turkey and the DMZ in Korea reminded me how close we are to conflagration at any moment.
Thanks again so much for contributing to the morale of all those great Americans. They need and deserve all the support we can give them.

[CrowBear Schmitt]

what a great report & pics Jeff
thank you & the guys for the goodwill & serving !
the psg in Afghanistan must be a premier

[Jack Stoner]

Jeff, how long will you be there? Is it just TDY?

I had full field gear when I was in the 2nd AACS Mobile Squadron (Now called 2nd AFCS Mobile Comm Group based at Rhein Main AB Germany). That was because we supported the Army in the field and potentailly other places in Europe and the Middle East. In the 1958/59 Beirut Lebanon crisis our Squadron sent Control Tower Operators and teletype comm center operators. They were housed in Army type 16 man squad tents. Our Tower operators took over the Beirut Civilian Airport Control Tower.

[Jeff Valentine]

Mark, those must be some cool memories. Was there some kind of booking agent that contacted someone who hires for those kinds of tours? That certainly sounds interesting.

I'm glad you like the post, CrowBear. I've got some more pictures of playing in Afghanistan coming soon. Yes, I'm pretty sure it was the first time anyone in attendance had ever seen a steel guitar. Unfortunately that's true for most gigs in the states too......

Jack, we deploy for 3 months at a time. They started deploying bands back around 05 and have slowly increased the length of our deployments. They started out as 1 month, went to 2, and we're the first band in the Air Force to go for 3. The army will deploy their bands for a full year at a time, but will use them for things other than music if they need them. It sounds like you've got some good stories too. I bet that was an interesting time to be in the military.

Again, thanks to everyone for checking out this post. I'll try and update the pictures soon. We've got a gig tonight and have to be at the airport to head to the next location so early tomorrow that I think I'll just stay up...

-Jeff

[Paddy Long]

Jeff good onya for undertaking a trip like that, my son has just returned from his 2nd tour of Afghanistan so I know how dangerous the place is -- thanks for helping make all the troops from every country have a few moments of down time and some great music..I know how much they would have appreciated it.

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

We've got a gig tonight and have to be at the airport to head to the next location so early tomorrow that I think I'll just stay up...

-Jeff

Jeff, I'm really enjoying your posts! Ah, the memories of my own Air Force experiences that this all brings back. Wish I had a nickel for ever time I played a gig, then stayed up without sleep because we had to be on the flight line so early in the morning. I surely know that feeling.

The photo of you guys about the board the C-130 really brought back some memories. Seeing your sound engineer putting in his ear plugs before boarding did, too. I take it the props are still as loud on today's Hercules as they were when I was in? Ear plugs were never quite effective enough for me, so I resorted to wearing flight line ear protectors.

I really enjoyed the window shot you took. The C-130s we flew on had no side windows, so we usually saw nothing outside from take off to landing. I'd sometimes get lucky, though, and get called up to the flight deck to take a weather observation and to monitor the RHI and PPI scopes on the on-board AN/FPS-77 radar whenever we flew near or into convective weather patterns (my secondary AFSC was Air Weather Observer).

As always, thanks for sharing your experiences and for the memories it brings back to me of my own Air Force days.

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi again,

Yes, Afghanistan is the most difficult place we've dealt with so far out of the 7 countries we've visited. I'm sitting here in the pax terminal watching the news of bin Laden's death. I guess you could say everyone around here is pretty happy about that.

- Jim, I'm glad it's bringing back some memories for you. I'd use the flight line ear protectors too if I had them. It's pretty loud, but the ear plugs they give us are pretty good. If they don't work I've got some of my own that I carry. Those C130s don't have very many windows, but sometimes I end up sitting near enough to one of the to take some pictures. They're usually too dirty to see out, but every now and then they're good.

I'll try and get another set of pictures posted sometime later today. I think we have a little down time when we arrive at the next location. As always, thanks for following the post.

-Jeff

[Sherman Willden]

Thank you, Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi All,

I meant to post some new pictures, but have been really busy with this leg of our tour. I'll do my best to get something new on here tomorrow. We've been on the go for a while without a real break to do anything with a computer.

-Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

Here are some new pictures. This should take us through the middle of April.



- This is our C17 from Kuwait to Manas, which is in Kyrgyzstan. This is how they usually pack the troops into a C17.



- This is a closer picture of the rack I'm using for most of our gigs here. This is at Pete's Place, which is a bar at Manas. It used to be called Manas Airbase, but is now referred to as the Transit Center at Manas.



- This is our first gig off the base at Kyrgyzstan. They call their schools gymnasiums, and this is Gymnasium #62. The commanders at certain bases choose to use us for community relations, which is the case here.



- This is us at the Children's Cancer Center. All of these kids are undergoing some kind of cancer treatment, most of which didn't look to be cutting edge. After this gig we called back to Peterson AFB, our home station, and arranged for the rest of the band members to send a care package full of art supplies for the kids. Most of them love to draw, paint and color, and didn't really have any good supplies.



- This is our drummer, Tim Stombaugh, handing out little percussion toys for the kids to play. I played guitar on this gig because it was a quick setup where there wasn't much room.



- This was our next performance at a nice hall that we refer to as the Philharmonic. I'm not sure if that's the full name or not. The place held around 1,300 people and was standing room only. They said it was the largest crowd they had ever had for any band. The whole theme to the show was how country music was all about the working man and family. We were trying to find some common ground. We had a great translator, and the overall impact was a very good one.



- This is a shot of the crowd on the lower level at the Philharmonic performance.



- This is what the mountains look like in Kyrgyzstan. They're very beautiful, and can be seen in every direction.

I'll pick up with the rest of Kyrgyzstan on the next post. We've got a flight out of this place in a couple of hours. Thanks again for following the post.

-Jeff

[Dave Manion]

Thanks again for showing us this glimpse into how you serve our country, and the world for that matter. Be safe out there and thank you for your service.
Dave

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks, Dave. We actually just got back to our home base tonight. We were supposed to arrive tomorrow, but our plane couldn't land for our last gig, so they flew back to where they originated from Luckily that was our home base. We were in Iraq for 8 days playing at a different location every day. I'll make another post tomorrow with more pictures.

Thanks again, Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi everyone,

Here's a new set of pictures.



- This is a boy who came to one of our concerts in Kyrgyzstan. Maybe he's a future steel player. When they heard the steel they immediately said, "Sponge Bob"! I've only seen one episode of Sponge Bob in my life, but I remembered some of those silly steel licks that they use. I played one and it was a big hit.... Go figure. The band thought it was funny, so I started just playing those licks in solos too.



- Using the picks didn't work too well, but I guess that just takes time.



- These are members of the Russian Air Force from a nearby base in Kant. This is an example of how music can open doors. This Russian base has never allowed any entertainment to come on the base. After this concert they started communicating with the publicity department at Manas to try and get the next deployed US band on their base. This was a small setp in improving the relationship between the Russians and Americans in Kyrgyzstan.



- Sardines crammed into a C17.



- We're only smiling because there's just nothing else to do. Once you get crammed in there you can't move. There's less room than there is on a commercial flight, and everyone's wearing a 30lb vest. The M9 strapped to your leg is pretty uncomfortable too, but you can rotate that around to sit on the top of your leg. Good times.



- The mountains of Kyrgyzstan from the C17.

Thanks again for following the post. I'm at my home base for a few days and should be able to post again soon.

-Jeff

[CrowBear Schmitt]

thanx again for some great pics & times Jeff
nothin' beats good will tours huh ?
now about the online entertainement on that C17 : no winders, no movie, no hostesses - what about the grub ?
goin' to the can must be an adventure

[Jan Viljoen]

Thanks for the pictures.
It brings lots of memories because in South Africa we had a Citizen Force untill the red curtain fell.
I was also drafted and did service as a nco signalman in an artillery regiment in South West Africa(Namibia), others went to Angola.
During basics I played in a military band.

Good luck with your nice ax.

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi CrowBear. Yeah, in flight entertainment..... I wish. I always have some food on me since I know I won't be eating while I'm on there. I'll post some new pictures tomorrow, and will include some of the can just for you.

Thanks, Jan. I always wanted to go to South Africa. Did you play steel in the military band? I played the baritone when I was in basic training.

I'll have some more pictures tomorrow.

Thanks, Jeff

[Elton Smith]

Thats great stuff,Jeff.We do benefits for the troops often.We did one for Christmas called operation guitar pick.I think more pickers showed up to play for it than we had crowd.Everyone had a great time supporting our troops.One of the guys in the bands son is special ops in Alfganistan so what we raised got sent to those guys and gals.Thanks so much for your service.I also would like to thank bOb for having a place to do this.

[Jan Viljoen]

@Jeff Valentine,

I played trumpet in a marching band, but I am more of a strings man, so let's talk pedal language.

I have only seen a real psg for the first time last year at Tobie Schalkwyk's place (Sierra S10).
I only started recently.
Very few people play psg in South Africa, I know of only 6.

Good luck!

[Jeff Valentine]

That sounds cool, Elton. We just played a BBQ for the special ops command here. Those are the folks that sit right at the tip of the spear, so it's great to play for them. I agree, we should thank Bob for letting me post all of these pictures. I keep expecting someone to send me an email telling me to stop, but they haven't.

So you've started down the rabbit hole, Jan. There's no turning back now. Welcome to the club!

As promised, here are some new pictures.



- This is one of the transient tents on Bagram Air Force Base. We had the pleasure of staying here with no blankets more than once.



- Some of the troops didn't even get lucky enough to have a tent with no blankets. They had to sleep on the terminal floor.



- This is us sitting outside the passenger terminal at Bagram waiting to see if our flight was going to be canceled again... There wasn't any room to go inside, so we just sat outside. The flights get canceled a lot in Afghanistan.



- Most places are really hot here right now, but sometimes it just rains and gets cold. This was us waiting on our convoy to transfer us from KAIA in Afghanistan to Camp Eggers in Kabul. The rain actually got in my steel case....



- This is us once we finally got on the convoy to Kabul. This vehicle is called a Rhino, which is made to transport people in the middle of a convoy of M-RAPs. The M-RAPs have the gunners at the top and are carrying the troops who move people and gear from place to place every day.



- Here's another tent we stayed in on KAIA in Afghanistan. This tent was freezing, and we didn't have blankets that night. We called it the Ice Box.



- Hopefully I won't get in trouble for posting this picture on here. There's profanity on it, but it was just funny to see it. They posted it on the inside of every stall in the bathroom on Camp Eggers. If you have to use them, you'll know why...



- Like I promised CrowBear, here's the toilet on a C130. It just sits on the side of the plane in the back behind the pallets if they have any. There's a little curtain that you have to pull to hide yourself since it's not a room. If you're a girl you don't want to use it at all. They have small actual bathrooms on the C17s, but if you're packed in the middle of those rows you can't actually get out to go. I've learned to drink enough water to stay alive, and not much more.

That's all for now. The next couple of posts should have some great pictures. Thanks again if you're following along. Again, here's a link to the Wild Blue Country Facebook page if anyone wants to check it out.

-Jeff

[CrowBear Schmitt]

Thanx Jeff
that last sentence of the "instructions" in the can remind me of certain construction jobs that i do
every once in awhile, i find myself havin' to ask some of the workers :
" what time is your wife coming ? "
" you know my wife ? "
" nope "
" then why you askin' that for ? "
" cause i can tell you need her to clean up after ya'
so when is she comin'... ? "

[Gene Jones]

Jeff, this is a great thread and your experiences will become even more priceless for you as the years pass.

My time playing in a country band for the troops has now been 55 years ago, but is still some of my best memories.

You might enjoy checking out the following url to see some of the great instruments that we used compared to those in your band.

http://genejones.com/conway.htm

[Elton Smith]

Here's the flyer from Operation Guitar Pick. Joe and Helen Comfort are the great organizers for this event.

[Jeff Valentine]

Gene, what a great link! I went through the whole thing last night and really enjoyed it. I couldn't listen in on that recording session because my internet signal was too weak, but will check back on it later. I'd like to hear some of those stories. I'm sure you have quite a few. I'm honored that you took the time to check out my post.

That's a great event you're involved in, Elton. You can't beat great music and food for a great cause. Being on this end I can see these packages arrive and the troops they reach. This is proof that anyone can make a difference if they just take a little time. Please continue to do this as it really does make an impact over here. Thank you and everyone else involved for all your support.

More new pictures to come.

-Jeff