Steel Guitar Deployment

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a member of the Air Force Academy Band Wild Blue Country, which is the only actual country bands in the US Air Force. We're deployed right now supporting the troops, and I thought it might interest some people to see some pictures and read about what we're doing. If there's enough interest in this post I'll make sure to keep it upadated with new pictures and commentary. I know many of you are military supporters, and obviously interested in the steel guitar. I'll try to keep these posts centered on those two things.
We left for deployment on the 24th of February, so I'll try and keep things chronological so it's more like a story.

-This first picture is of Stephen, our guitar player, and me at our first meal once we arrived. We had been traveling for about 24 hours at this point.
-The second picture is of the rig I brought with me.
-Next you can see some of the bunkers that are all around the base in case of mortar attacks.
-The next picture is of us getting our IBAs issued. Those are the vests and helmets we have to wear when we travel to certain areas.
-The fifth picture is of the first pallet we built. We spend a lot of time traveling to other locations to play, often flying on C130s or C17s. These pallets are transported with us on the planes. If we travel by convoy or helicopter we obviously don't use the pallets.
-Next you have a picture of me sitting on the C130 for our first trip away from our home base.
-This is a picture of our first performance away from our home base. For security reasons I'll have to refer to it as, an "undisclosed location in southwest Asia". Most of the places we play we can talk about once we're done. This happens not to be one of them.











Thanks for taking the time to check out my post. Feel free to comment or send me messages. I'll reply as often as I can.

-Jeff

[Jerry Overstreet]

Jeff, Thanks for sharing those great photos. Nice rig you have there too. Please keep 'em coming. Links to any sound clips of you and/or the whole band would be nice as well.

Thanks to you and your fellow Airmen for your service. I wish all of you Godspeed and a safe tour.

[Dick Sexton]

Jeff, thank you for doing what you do. I have three kids in the Air Force, all have been in theater. Nice to know, they have an opportunity to hear great music, played by some of the best musicians, while they relax and regroup. Thank you for the pics!

[Stu Schulman]

Jeff,Thanks for posting the great photos.I was wondering if you know Jimmy Weber,He's a great guitarist/singer who lived in Alaska for a while.Thanks for your service my friend,Be Safe.

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks for the great comments. We all love our job, and the opportunities it gives us. Jerry, there is a place where you can download a small selection of songs, but I'll have to double check where that is. I know Wild Blue Country has a facebook page that has some stories and regular updates on our deployment. It's probably on that page where the music is. There is a video section that has a video taken about a year ago that I'll post a link to here. I will try and post pictures on here on a regular basis. Thanks again for the interest.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Blue ... 2392950137

-Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

I almost forgot... Stu, I'm pretty sure I know Jimmy, but can't remember the face with the name. I know I've met him somewhere, and not too long ago. He's still in I think.

-Jeff

[Jerry Overstreet]

Thanks for the video Jeff. Great stuff! Kudos to the USAF for promoting the Wild Blue country band

[Gary Cosden]

Thank you Jeff for what you guys do. One thing that strikes me is that this is probably the only band I have ever seen where ever member is in great shape and likely to stay that way!

[Joe Rogers]

Jeff, that sure is a gorgeous Millenium you've got there.....


Joe Rogers

[Mark van Allen]

Thanks, Jeff, I'm sure many here will follow your adventures with great interest. They remind me of the long D.O.D. tours I did in the 90's. I had MUCH more appreciation for our troops and their sacrifices once I'd seen where and what they were doing. God bless 'em all.
The traveling was immensely rewarding and often exciting, from commercial to C-130s, helicopters, small jets, and every kind of military vehicle.

We got to places I never thought I would as well- Pisa, Venice, the Pyramids, The DMZ in Korea, Haiti, Canal Zone, and far-flung bases at the ends of the earth where they need entertainment more than almost anything.

I seriously recommend any band, especially younger players, look into playing a tour or more for the D.O.D. Rewarding on so many levels.

Thanks again, troops.

[Jody Cameron]

Jeff - Thank you for your service to our country! And it's even better that you can serve as a steel player. Awesome! Thanks, jc

[Stu Schulman]

Hey Jeff,I have one more friend who I think is still in the Force Tim Rogers,he plays a left handed GFI and plays guitar either lefty or righty he's kinda hard to forget,I hope that I can meet you someday.
Be Safe,Stu

[Ken Lang]

While in the Army I spent most of my time on an Air Force base. Our band consisted of 2 Army guys and 3
Air Force guys. Great fun.
Keep us posted.

[Johnny Cox]

Jeff, first of all thank you for your service. I have a son in the Marines and a step son in the Navy.
I wanted to let you know that I was honored to build the MSA Millennium your playing. I also had the honor to build one this year for the Navy. Be safe and thank your band mates for their service as well.

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks, Gary. I'm not sure if "great" is the right word..... Every time I step on the scale I'm a little more of a man that I was before.... I do know that being deployed would be way harder the heavier you are. We spent time walking around with well over 100 pounds of gear on us. The Air Force test us regularly, so we do have to maintain a minimum level of fitness.

Thanks, Joe. I do like the Millennium. That's the instrument I learned on, so I am partial to it. I do have a Zum back in Colorado that's also a wonderful instrument.

Johnny, what a great instrument you built. Thanks for chiming in. The steel player before me, Ed Price, was the guy who ordered that instrument around 2005. It still plays great, and stays in tune pretty good out in the sun in the extreme heat.

Hi Mark. I'd love to hear more about those D.O.D. tours you're talking about. Were you with a group of civilians that signed up for a certain length of time? I also do much of the pro tools editing for the Academy Band, and have enjoyed your posts regarding recording. Thanks, and keep them coming.

I'd love to meet you too, Stu. I usually get to go to the show in Dallas, but had to miss it this year because of the deployment. Hopefully I can go next year. I don't know Tim, but would love to meet him too. I don't know any left handed steel players.

Thanks again to everyone for your interest. I'll be making another post with new pictures soon.

-Jeff

[Jack Stoner]

Jeff, I'm ex-Air Force. It's great to see what you all are doing. I have respect for all the people in the military.

I spent most of my US time as a tech school instructor at Keesler AFB.

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks, Jack. I'm pretty sure you helped me with the Pod when I was using it. I still use it on deployment if we really need to be light with our gear. I still think it's the best way to go if you're looking for one stop shopping for all your effects. You can't beat it for the price. What did you teach at tech school?

-Jeff

[Jack Stoner]

Jeff, I'm an "old timer". I was in from 1955 to 63. I tought Ground Radio Operators (morse code) 29330 and then "Tech Control" 30730.

Other than Keesler/ATC, I was in AFCS Squadrons in Germany and Taiwan.

[Ray Minich]

This civilian gives a big heaping thanks for all you and your comrades are doing Jeff.

Keep pickin' and stay safe.

Thanks again.

PS: Nice lookin' Millenium. what effects units are you using in the side cabinet?

[Bob Vantine]

Jeff ......

Thanks for the pictures . Nice rig !
And a special thankyou for your service . My brother and 2 cousins were USAF .

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Hi Jeff,
I really enjoyed your post here and the photos you provided. Thank you for your service to our country. I think it's great and it also brought back a lot of good Air Force memories for me while reading your post ... I'm ex-USAF myself (I was Air Force for just over 8 years TAFMSD --- 10 years if you count my time in for delayed enlistment program). I loved every moment of it. Naturally, my basic training was at Lackland AFB TX and then my tech school was at Keesler AFB MS (702x0C primary AFSC).

During my tenure in the Air Force, I also had the pleasure to be a part of an all-military band for awhile. When I was stationed at Osan AB Korea in 1979 our Pacific-based AAFES Dept. decided to put together a few Air Force/Army bands (a rock band, a variety band and a country band) to travel in rotation with each other around portions of the Pacific theater (Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Philippines, etc.) and each band was made up of both Air Force and Army personnel (no civilian members).

With the permission of my squadron commander, I auditioned for (and was accepted) to fill the steel player position for the country band. It felt great being released from my primary duties with the 621st TCS and have music become my primary duty. Our band was six pieces (three Army and three Air Force personnel) and it often felt as though we spent more time in the air traveling to the gigs than actually playing them --- we spent a lot of time in C-130 aircraft, but we'd sometimes travel by C-141 and, occasionally for the Hawaii shows, we'd hop a C-5 from Osan to Hawaii. For most of the in-country shows in Korea, going from one base or detachment to another, we were usually ferried around in a couple of HH-53 Jolly Greens.

We didn't get to play in civilian clothes, though. We played in our fatigue uniforms and, while I didn't have any problems with combat boots and pedal work, the one thing that did plague me was the cuff button of my fatigue shirt getting caught between C6th strings ... I was always turning the cuff where the button was on top to prevent that from happening.

We had a great time playing the shows and we did it for several months, but in October of that year our band duty came to an abrupt halt (South Korean "President Park" Chung-Hee had just been assassinated) and our military bases immediately went on alert. We were released from our AAFES duties and recalled to our various squadrons for our regular military duties ... the band never regrouped after that, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

Again, thank you for your military service. Have a great time playing and stay safe. I look forward to more of your updates.

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi guys. Thanks again for the great comments. We make it a point at all of our performances to tell the troops how much everyone back home supports them. We also tell them that we'll let the people back home know about all the great work they're doing over here. Most of these guys and gals are stuck over here for at least a year at a time away from their families. If it weren't for them we couldn't have all the freedoms we have back at home. Regardless of your opinions on the war itself, I think it's important to acknowledge their personal sacrifices.

Ray, I'm using a Lexicon MX200 in the rack. My rack back at home is much larger, and wouldn't have been easy to lug around here. The one I have out here is much smaller, and still sounds pretty good overall. The rack itself is one of the Telonics rack cases that came with one of their great new preamps. Dave Beaty at Telonics is a great guy to deal with if you ever have the chance.

That's a great story, Jim. You're one of the few steel players with a story like that. We spend too much time traveling to and from gigs as well. It does seem like that takes up most of the time. What we wear on the gigs depends on what the commander of that base wants. If we're off the base they usually won't let us wear uniforms. Sometimes when we're on the base they want to give the troops a feeling of being at home, so they tell us to wear country clothes. It all just depends. It's great that you could play in the combat boots. I know I can't.... I tried forever, but it's just too hard to stay off certain pedals when I'm trying to rock back and forth. My sleeve gets caught on the C6 neck too, so I have to roll them up. I'll have more pictures coming soon.

Thanks again, Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

I wanted to keep things in chronological order, but this story just came out about a gig we did in Afghanistan. I figured I'd post the link.

-Jeff


http://aimpoints.hq.af.mil/display.cfm?id=44880

[Dave Grothusen]

They talk about playing gigs behind chicken wire. You take the cake.
I guess I have joined the family. My daughter has been accepted into the Uniformed Services University, has joined the USAF and is going to be a doctor. She will take her dad's country music roots with her.
Thanks for this post. I enjoyed it.

[Greg Moody]

Hey Jeff,Thanks for your service to our country,The freedom we share came with a great coast and I thank our service men and wemon and vets.Back in the early 90's WBC came to Branson mo.and performed on a live radio show where I worked in the house band.They did a mix of Bluegrass and country.I set in and played steel with them.They were really wanting a steel player and were talking to me about inlisting.It would have been a great opportunity for me but I had just got married and my wife was in collage at the time.I assume those fellows are retired now.Keep up the good work Jeff.Greg Moody (steeler for Roy Rogers Jr.and THE High Riders)