 This
article is provided courtesy of DefenseWatch,
the official magazine for Soldiers For The
Truth (SFTT), a grass-roots educational organization
started by a small group of concerned veterans
and citizens to inform the public, the Congress,
and the media on the decline in readiness
of our armed forces. Inspired by the outspoken
idealism of the late Colonel
David Hackworth, SFTT aims to give our
service people, veterans, and retirees a clear
voice with the media, Congress, the public
and their services.
|
|
|
|
August 23, 2005
[Have an opinion about the views expressed in this article? Sound
off in the Hot Issues with Defensewatch Forum.]
By Nathaniel R. Helms
Last year three young fellows from central and southern Arkansas wound up in Baghdad, Iraq dodging snipers and improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers looking for quick access to perpetual virgins in Southwest Asia's version of some lawless planet in a galaxy far, far away.
Like a lot of folks from Arkansas they have a natural affinity for good country music, loving their country, missin' their women, and making up songs about how darn sorry the whole business sometimes made them feel. That isn't to say J.R. Schultz and the other boys he played music with were whining like Tammie Wynette on a bad hair day... no sir! These boys took it on the chin, shook their heads, gave a grin and picked up their wooden guitars to come up with a unique blend of patriotism, poetry and good old toe tapping tunes they hope will someday launch them into the bright lights of Nashville . It wasn't always easy, they said, and it wasn't ever fun with Baghdad for a back drop, but it passed the time and helped them express their feelings in a place where feelings usually play second fiddle to the Devil's own orchestra.
Last week DefenseWatch spent a few pleasant hours talking on the telephone with J.R. Schultz and Nick Brown, until recently riflemen in the 1st Battalion, 153 Infantry, 39th Infantry Brigade, Arkansas Army National Guard that was attached to the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division taking bad guys on notorious Haifa Street in what is left of that part of Baghdad. The third member of their erstwhile trio, a fellow named Luke Stricklin, has gotten himself a bit of fame for a song he wrote called American by God's Amazing Grace and was away in Memphis trying to make a name for himself playing it for the music moguls.
J.R. was teamed of with a an Arkansas soldier named Randy Bartlett during his long year in Iraq . DW visited Bartlett two weeks ago to learn about how a former infantry captain accepted a reduction in rank to Staff Sergeant so he could go to Iraq and get a little payback for 9/11 08-03-05 Iraqi Troops Better Than Critics Describe . Bartlett and J.R. served together training an Iraqi National Guard outfit full of former Republican Guard soldiers, out of work government officials and ne'er-do-wells of all sorts the U.S. Army is trying to turn into a national army before the whole country gets blown into a junk pile.
Nick was a rifleman in Charlie Company of the same battalion, pulling regular infantry duty running convoys, searching for bad guys, and subduing the insurgents who are still trying to make a comeback two years after U.S. President George W. Bush declared "mission accomplished."
"We were on the same base camp," J.R. explained. "A friend of Nick's got us together because he knew we both played music and figured we would do some songs."
"It worked out pretty well," echoed Nick, a younger version of J.R. with the same deep Southern drawl that stretches out words and massages them a little bit to get out all the meaning before they finally cross his lips. "We met each other on our downtime. We played our songs for each other and liked each other's music and it was a good way to pass the time."
Most of the time they were doing what combat soldiers do, fighting and ducking and praying they wouldn't run into an Iraqi insurgent with ill will on his mind. The rest of the time they hung around in their barracks writing songs about what had happened that day. Usually the pain of their experiences was so profound and the scenes they witnessed so moving they found they had plenty of material to write music and sing about, both men agreed.
Most of our songs were about what happened," J.R. explained. "One song I wrote was about what happened in the Green Zone when the Iraqis used a donkey cart to launch some missiles into that big hotel there. It was a few days before we deployed (March 2004) when I first heard about it. Rumsfeld [Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld] had just been on TV saying Baghdad wasn't so bad and then he went over there and the rockets hit the hotel and he came right back home."
The incident inspired a song the men call Baghdad Ain't So Bad . It expresses the sardonic humor they all discovered in Rumsfeld's pre-visit assessment and his hasty departure a few days later.
"I just thought it was funny," J.R. drawled.
Neither man preferred talking about the politics of the war. They say they are proud of their service, the sacrifices of the other men and women who are there, and the job Americans are doing in the face of all the difficulties they have encountered since their arrival.
"For a long time we didn't have any armor, and we couldn't get weapons or ammunition," J.R. remembered, "and the job we were doing training the Iraqis – which we were always told was the most important job anyone was doing over there – never seemed to get any help or support. It was more like we were a bother."
Nick said his buddies were always worried about the IEDs and snipers and getting blown up just driving down the road. He said the training they got in the States wasn't worth going to because it did not prepare them for anything they eventually encountered, but they did their jobs anyway.
"I'm a patriot," Nick said. "My grandfather was a WWII, in the 705 th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge . The older I got the more I got interested in it. When I was young he was just an old man in a chair who didn't say much, but he sacrificed everything in World War II. I know that now. He died shortly before we were deployed."
J.R. 's most poignant memory was the night his son Barrett was born. It was 3 A.M. in Iraq and his wife Saundra was in labor. They had talked for awhile on the telephone. J.R. was absorbed with the realization he was about to be a father and the horrible thought that he might never see his son.
"It was June 15 th 2004 . It was also the first time I met Nick. We were doing a patrol with 1st Battalion the day after my son was born. Nick and I talked a little bit - just talking -then the words to the song came out. I just kind of started writing them down."
J.R. remembered his Grandfather was married when he went overseas in World War II. He used the memory in his song. "Then I put on my thinking cap and more lines about the sacrifices soldiers make going overseas and sometimes dying - stuff like that – and it just came to me. At my rank my job is to do what I'm told, supporting my country. We came up with a song called I Am a Patriot.
I Am A Patriot , by J.R. Schultz
Twilight, and I'm alone
On a battlefield so far from my home
My wife is running through the fields of my mind
My only prayer is to see her again sometime
It's been a year now since I've seen your face
A beautiful thing that all my dreams could never replace
How I long to feel your touch and hear your voice
And God knows how I want to hold my little boy
Chorus
But I am too proud, to be forgotten
I've given too much, to be forsaken now
Just keep that American flag in our yard flying
Cause I'm a patriot and, I don't mind dying
I don't know what God has in store for me
But if I don't return, I only ask one thing
Don't let my memory fade too far away
And tell my son how much I love him every day
It's getting closer now; I can hear the sounds of home
Seems like forever here, the time has passed so slow
Too many men came here who will never leave
A sad reminder of the cost to be free
Final Chorus
And they were too proud, to be forgotten
They gave too much to be forsaken now
So I'll keep that American flag in our yard flying
For all the patriots who went down fighting
Both men said the hardest part of writing music is getting an idea started. Once that happened the song seemed to take on a life of its own.
"Music made by a guitar is made from chords – you know, strumming. The tune will pop in your head and then it sort of gets going, " J.R. explained.
Nick added that playing together was a big help in completing a song. "Sometimes I'd come down there to J.R.s and we would play our songs to see how each other liked them. Then I would finish the song. If I didn't get a response I hoped for I would can it, but once you get a kind of melody - if you got an upbeat melody - you write upbeat songs.
Today J.R. is back working for the State of Arkansas as a fisheries biologist. Nick is back in school learning about sports medicine and being a football coach while he waits to find out if he can become an Arkansas State police officer. In the meantime they have self-produced a CD folks can buy by clicking on their website at http://www.iraq-songs.com and ordering the CD.
"Now me and Nick are getting serious about this music thing," J.R. said. "I think people will like the message behind the music."
Meanwhile they spend their free time "learning a lot about the music business," Nick added. "Right now we are small scale but we want to get out our message about Iraq . Who wants to hear a song about someone going to college or "I'm a fish biologist."
There is a story in their experiences on Haifa Street and they want the world to hear it. Maybe it will.
©2005 DefenseWatch.Contributing Editor Nathaniel R. "Nat" Helms is a Vietnam veteran, former police officer, long-time journalist and war correspondent living in Missouri . He is the author of two books, Numba One – Numba Ten and Journey Into Madness: A Hitchhiker's Account of the Bosnian Civil War, both available at www.ebooks-online.com . He can be reached at natshouse1@charter.net . Send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com . All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.
|
