Steel Guitar Deployment

[Alan Harrison]

Hi Jeff, thanks for your service. I have enjoyed your post and hope that you will continue to keep us updated on your adventures.."GOD BLESS" Stay safe.

[Paul Graupp]

Jeff: Megga-dittos on all the Thanks and Praise you Gentlemen so richly deserve in this thread. Like Gene Jones, a long time Best Friend, my tour in USAF Music was a long time ago. Reading your stories touches a very personnal memory in my heart. As they say nowadays: Been There...Done That !! In due time, you will be doing what we are now doing. Recalling these good ole days.

Before I got too old to continue, I worked a gig across the road from Robins AFB, GA. A guy from the USAF Reserve band used to come by and ask questions about PSG. I cannot recall his name but like you have related...he was into the instrument the same as all of us are. While in the Air Force and mostly overseas, I wrote for years for Fender/FRETTS and that was the opportunity and joy of a lifetime.

Again...THANK YOU and your FRIENDS for all they do for all of us !! It cannot be said often enough...I Know !!

Regards, Paul

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks, Alan. I've enjoyed the discussions from this post as well. I'll keep it going until we're done with the deployment in early June.

I hope you're right, Paul. I hope I'm one of the lucky ones who will live long enough to look back on these days with fond memories. I actually don't know anyone in the Reserve band at Robins, but it's a small world.

We're waiting at the airport right now for a flight out to another place for a little while. This time we don't have to bring a vest or a gun, so that's a good thing. We just got back from Iraq not long ago, so those pictures will be coming up soon. There was a great blackhawk helicopter ride into Bagdad, so stay tuned.

Thanks, Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi All,

We actually have a good internet signal here today, so I'll put a few more pics on the post.



- This was us setting up for a gig on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. This was at the Egyptian Hospital on base. It's a hospital where people from outside the gates can come and get free medical care regardless of race, sex, religion or anything else. Apparently this was the first time they had any music there. Needless to say, the steel was a little interesting to them.






-I let them play with the bar and strings while I controlled the volume pedal.



-It sounded terrible, but they dug it.



-They had fun playing the drums and guitar too. Nobody played the bass, so at least they had that much figured out! Once they learn the rest of the instruments they could probably pick up bass in a week or so!



-This is a shot of part of Bagram Air Base with the mountains in the background.

I'll have more pictures soon. Thanks again to everyone who's following along.

-Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi Everyone,

We just got back from a short tour of UAE, which is United Arab Emirates for those who didn't know. We did a lot of troop support gigs there and had a really cool tour of the flight line. I'll have some pictures up later today, which I guess will be by the time most of you wake up. These pics should be the ones from Iraq, which will include some great shots from inside the blackhawk as we flew into a tiny base in the center of Baghdad.
I also wanted to thank Sue from Peterson Tuners. She noticed in one of my pictures that I was using a Stroborack tuner in my rack. She wanted to show their support by sending us some Peterson clip tuners that we could use on those acoustic gigs when I'm not playing steel. That's a very nice thing to do, so I just wanted to thank her. No matter what system you use to tune your guitar, you just can't beat a Peterson tuner. I'll have more pics today.

-Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

As promised, here are some new pictures. These all took place in Iraq at the beginning of May. We were there for 9 days and on a plane from one place to another every day.



-Every now and then there's enough room on the C130 to stretch out and sleep. We were lucky on this flight to Mozul at the start of the Iraq tour.



-This is a predator drone sitting on the flight line in Balad. These things do so much good flying over areas providing air support.



-This is us posing in front of an F16 after a tour they gave us on Balad. The flight crew posing with us took time out of their day to talk with us about their work with the F16.



- This is a broken down Mig on Al Asad. There are quite a few Migs around the base that apparently just landed there when they ran out of gas. I guess they just took off to get them off the bases when we initially invaded and they didn't have enough fuel to get them to a safe runway.... Oops... Now they just sit wherever they landed or crashed for people to look at.



-Us in front of the Mig.



-This is us quickly loading our gear on a Blackhawk to fly to a FOB in downtown Baghdad. Apparently this is currently the most dangerous FOB in Iraq. FOB stands for "forward operating base". Toby Keith just came through here and wouldn't go to this location because it wasn't safe enough. It's called FOB Loyalty.



-Playing for the troops on FOB Loyalty. It was an improvised stage with no seats for the crowd, but they were just happy to have some music.



- Another picture of the troops on FOB Loyalty. They were very thankful that someone came out to play for them. We make it a point to tell them how much the people back home support what they're doing. We also do tours and talk with them so that we can bring the stories of how well they're doing back home to the people in the states.



- Downtown Baghdad through the window on a Blackhawk. Well, there wasn't a window there at all... Check out that gun. This was our ride home from FOB Loyalty. We had to get all that gear back on the helicopter and get strapped down in 3 minutes. They get shot at a lot while they're on the ground, so we had to get out of there in a hurry.



- A better picture of the side gunner's point of view.

- Farewell to downtown Baghdad.

These are the highlights of our recent Iraq tour. We moved around a lot, but that enabled us to reach the most people in the short amount of time we were there. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have about what we've been doing.

Thanks, Jeff

[Elton Smith]

Where are yall at now?

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi, Elton.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to talk about where we're at while we're there. It's just a security thing. We have a home base that we travel out of. Right now we're at the home base. We usually spend a few days here either playing gigs, doing laundry, getting a haircut...... Then we travel for about 10 days to other countries playing for the troops, local communities or embassies. Once we're back from somewhere I can talk about it. Even when I talk to my wife on the phone I can't tell her where I'm at, when we're leaving or where we're going. Once we're done with that location it's fair game unless there's something specific with that country where they don't allow us to mention that we were there. Sorry for the long answer..... Hopefully that makes sense. Thanks for the question.

-Jeff

[Johnny Cox]

Jeff, I have a favor to ask. When you have a chance will you have someone take a picture of you, your group and your guitar and autograph it for me. I have two sons in the service. Though I did not serve in the military the guitars I built for the Air Force and the Navy have been very special projects to me. Both of my sons are combat correspondents, Joshua is a Sgt. in the U.S.M.C. and is currently stationed aboard the USS Bataan in the Mediterranean Sea. My step son Lt. Jason Fischer is in the Navy and is about to head to Spain. I would really appreciate if you could do this for me. My email is texastroubadour79@yahoo.com. If you email me I'll give you my mailing address. Thank you for your service.
Johnny Cox

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi Johnny,

Sure, I can do that. Do you want just one picture of the whole group that shows the guitar, or one of each like you mentioned? We don't have the ability to print out hard copies of pictures here, but once we're home it's easy. The guitar I'm playing has been deployed twice and played by active duty steel players. I almost know for a fact it's seem more deployment time played by an active duty musician than any other steel guitar. If someone has information that contradicts that please let me know. That might not be correct if we go back to the Vietnam era and earlier. Either way, it's a great guitar that's served the Air Force well.
I'll send you and email and we can figure it all out.

Thanks, Jeff

[Bill Plemmons]

Hi Jeff,
I really envy you guys, you have a dream assignment, active duty , traveling and playing music. I was never lucky enough to get to play music in an official capacity. My 27 years AF active duty was 3 years Training Command and 24 years in SAC, always in a frozen aircraft maintenance AFSC. The photos of you traveling "first class" on the C-17 and C-130 aircraft, sleeping on troop seats with cargo and equipment tied down in the aisle, stirred a lot of memories for me. I was stationed at Anderson AFB Guam from Aug. 70 to Aug 73 on the 8AF Logistics Staff, working B-52 aircraft maintenance issues. My job required frequent trips to Okinawa and Thailand and our mode of travel was always on KC-135 tankers. I carried an air mattress which made it possible to lie on the floor and get some sleep enroute.

Later as a civilian at SAC HQ one of my projects was to place a B-52 Display at the AF academy. The B-52 at the north gate was the result.

Thanks for your service and keep up the good work.

Bill Plemmons (CMSGT Ret)

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks for the story, Bill. We feel lucky every day for our gig, believe me. I drive past that B-52 almost every time I go on the Academy, which is at least once a week. It's cool to know someone responsible for putting it there. I actually got married at the Chapel last June. I'll be posting some pictures soon of our tour of the flight line in U.A.E. They showed us a number of cool planes. We even got some pictures that they told us never to post because they had some classified things in the background. One of the planes we checked out was the KC-135. Retiring as a CMSgt after 27 years is something most people never get to do. Congratulations on that accomplishment! We should be thanking you for your service. That air mattress is a good idea. I should have thought of that months ago..... Thanks for taking the time to chime in.

-Jeff

[Mike Archer]

you boys are a blessing and I am so very proud
of you all
may God bless and protect each and every one of you
you can rest asured that America is behind you 100%
and so are your fellow steel players

Mike

[Jeff Valentine]

Mike,

Thank you for your kind words. We'll make sure to pass that on to all the troops at our concert tonight. We're leaving this morning for our last trip away from the home base. Hopefully everything will go according to plans with the flight and other transportation. I'll post again when I can.

-Jeff

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi Everyone,

We just got back from our last trip out on this deployment. We went to Bastion/Leatherneck in Afghanistan. It's primarily a Marine base. I'll have those pictures out soon. Right now I'll post some photos from our trip before that to U.A.E. Some of these pictures are of aircraft on the flight line. Feel free to correct me if I mess something up.



-This is us on a tour of the flight line at Al Dhafra in U.A.E. This is the section of the KC-135 where they do the refueling. It's at the back of the aircraft down some stairs. There's a big window that you look out with some controls that operate the tentacle that transfers the fuel from the 135 to another aircraft.



-This plane is huge, and flies unmanned. Its primary purpose is to be a flying satellite. They fly it really high over any terrain so that ground forces can use it to communicate.



-This airman took the time to show us around one of the F-15s.



-They were nice enough to let the whole band get a picture on the F-15.



-We played a quick scaled down gig for the security forces people who can't come to our evening performances.



-These are the security forces troops that we played for. It was only about 15 minutes, but they seemed to enjoy it. They all have to gather every day to have a briefing and disperse to their different locations for the rest of the day.



-This is one of our evening performances at the main stage there. They let them have "3 beer night" instead of the usual 2. Most countries don't let the troops have alcohol at all, but U.A.E. isn't one of them.



-This is from our 3rd gig that day. This is a really small chow hall out at the flight line. We played from 11:30pm to 1:00am for some more people who couldn't make our regular performances.

As always, thanks to everyone who enjoys following the post. I'd love to hear back from anyone who has questions or comments. I'll be able to post again soon since we're back at the home base now.

-Jeff

[Brad Bechtel]

I think this is one of the most interesting threads on the Steel Guitar Forum right now. I'm fascinated by what you guys are doing and how well you seem to be doing it. I'm sure the troops appreciate your entertainment. Thanks for sharing!

[Reece Anderson]

It’s ironic Jeff would post a picture of an unmanned aircraft (second picture down in Jeff's last post) which shows a “Global Hawk”, because we are responsible for manufacturing the sophisticated components contained in the underbelly (see slight bulge) between the nose gear and the main landing gear.

Thank you Jeff for for your service, great pictures, and for playing an MSA Millennium.

[Paul Graupp]

Brad: Thank you for saying words I had in mind...gives them a double emphasis !!

Reece: What an fascinating observation...I never would have guessed or known that.

Jeff: Like Brad said...the best thread on the Forum ! Thank You !!

Regards, Paul

[Jeff Valentine]

Hi guys,

Brad and Paul, thanks for your remarks. It means a lot to me to hear that you find the post interesting. I didn't want to just keep posting pictures and stories if people weren't following them. My goal was never to promote myself, but to show the steel guitar in a way I hadn't seen it shown before. I'm lucky to have this job, and felt obligated to show how the military used the steel guitar and music in its mission. I've learned so much on the forum that I thought this might be an opportunity to try and give something back.
Reece, that's really interesting stuff. I had no idea... That's a pretty cutting edge piece of equipment. They even took some pictures off the CD before they gave it to us because it had some background shots of some of the internal parts to that plane. The Millennium was certainly the best choice for this deployment. It's a relatively light guitar compared to most, and it seems to really hold its pitch in the extreme heat over here. I regret that it's gotten really dirty..... I plan on really cleaning it when I get home. I enjoyed meeting you at the Dallas show a few years ago. Hopefully I'll see you there next year.
On another note, does anyone know what to do if you have to play in a sand storm? I'm actually serious. That happened to us two nights in a row on this last trip, and the strings just wouldn't let the bar move back and forth.... I actually ended up losing it a couple of times.... I got a band new one out of my seat and used it, which lasted for a few tunes before it was caked with dirt and stopped working. I'll probably never have to do that again, but what do you do to stop it? Has anyone had a similar problem?

Thanks, Jeff

[Dan Galysh]

Wow, Jeff. That just might be an experience unique to you, but I might be wrong. I have never heard of anyone playing steel in a sandstorm before! Thanks for your service and this interesting thread.

[Paul Graupp]

Jeff: I just noticed something...in the last picture above it appears as if something is on your right hand index finger. Doesn't look like a pick...maybe a bandaid ?? Sorta got me worried because injuring that finger was always a disaster for my playing !!

Regards, Paul

[Elton Smith]

Never played in a sand storm.But have played in a few shit storms tho.I'll bet that Msa will take it,it's always been my weapon of choice.Please keep the news comming Jeff.WE all enjoy it so much.

[Kyle Bennett]

Hi Jeff,
When you get back to the states, please send the guitar back to us and we'll clean it up for you. We'll also make sure nothing has worn due to the extreme conditions. Thank you for your service.
Kyle
MSA

[CrowBear Schmitt]

thanx again for a great thread Jeff
i drove through a sand storm in southern Algeria that lasted 3 days !
that sand covered everything & the truck we had, even equipped w: proper filters, had to undergo major cleaning inside & out
i can imagine what all the aircraft & armored vehicles have to go through to keep'em fit & runnin'

[Jeff Valentine]

Thanks again to everyone. Paul, that's just my bar. For some reason I was holding it in that hand. Yes, injuring that finger wouldn't be a fun thing.
Kyle, thanks so much for the generous offer. I'd love to have it cleaned. I'll send you an email and we can discuss the details. I know it's been through some extreme conditions out here.
Sorry about your sandstorm experience, CrowBear. That sounds way worse than mine... The Marines in the audience just sat out there on the ground and enjoyed our playing despite the sand. Those guys are just tough. I'll have some pictures of that stuff posted soon. We actually have the information on our flight home now. I should be home on the 2nd of June, which my wife is very happy about since our anniversary is on the 5th. I still have the pictures from our last trip to post, so stay tuned. As always, thanks for being a part of the deployment.

-Jeff