Personal soundtracks to war

By ⋅ May 31, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
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This Memorial Day week 2010, we’re bringing you a look at the music US soldiers are listening to in Iraq on their iPods or personal music players. Correspondent Jake Warga was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division and brings us soldier’s “personal soundtracks to war.”

Staff Sergeant Treen. Photo: Jake Warga

Staff Sergeant Adam Treen

Artist: Barbra Streisand
Song: Send in the Clowns
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“We are in [Pemad Ahmed, Mohammed] in the middle of the Saladdin district in a mud hut town. And our LT is currently talking to one of the locals trying to hook him up with a micro grant to improve his farm. My name is Staff Sergeant Adam Treen. I’m from Pittsburg, PA. Currently have a house, wife and family in Junction City, KS outside Fort Riley. I was working for the airlines, furloughed because of 9/11. Doing little odd jobs, recycling centers, car washers, whatever I could get, but it wasn’t paying the bills. No one deploys to Iraq because I want to go! No, they want to stay at home. You get extra money because you are deployed. I’d rather be home and broke with my family than be here making extra money. I thought Send in the Clowns would be an appropriate song for our current deployment. We are a special troop battalion that are doing things for active units not support units. We put the special back in special troops. So, ‘Send in the Clowns’ fits. I think they were fine before we came. We’re trying to rebuild an entire country. An entire infrastructure set up the way it is in the States, it doesn’t work that way here. The way their religion is such a predominate part of every day life, they need a strong leadership, they’re not really geared towards it – democrat or republic society. I’m not saying they need a dictator, or need a king. They need someone who is strong enough, who can keep them banded together with a single focus. Biggest issue will be trying to keep Iran and Syria from moving into the power vacuum when we leave.”

Specialist Kriegshauser. Photo Jake Warga

Specialist Kriegshauser

Artist: DJ Alex K
Song: Raindrops (techno)
Album: Alex. K Volume 1
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“Raindrops by Alex K. I love techno. Anything with a beat just gets your heart pumping, and you’re ready to go for anything. I’m Specialist Kriegshauser – “Warhouse”. Soldiers love their music. I’m sure 9 out of 10 soldiers have an iPod or someway to listen to music. You come off a really long day and it will calm you down and you can sleep that night. Music is a great de-stresser as well as great motivator. I think the country will definitely survive. They’re a thriving, caring, generous people. The stigma that America gives to them is unjust and unfair in most instances. ”

PFC Michael Dalere. Photo: Jake Warga

PFC Michael Dalere

Artist: Hollywood Undead
Song: Undead
Album: Swan Song
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“Private First Class Michael Dalere. 22. 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. I listen to pretty much anything that’s heavy metal. But this is one of the biggest songs I listen to when I am out there. It’s by a group called Hollywood Undead. It’s called Undead. It gets me pumped. I’ll always remember my buddy who got killed, you know what I’m saying. I still think about it all the time, you know. Just how young he was. You know, he had kids and stuff like that. You never think someone who know until it happens. People say you get over it, but I don’t think you get over it. You never get over having a friend getting killed while trying to better another country. I don’t think you get over it. Every time I listen to it, I’ll probably go into PTSD shock or something like that. A little epileptic seizure of Iraq. My wife will have to call mental health on me, send me away for a couple days.”

Specialist Lawrence. Photo: Jake Warga

Specialist Lawrence “Laser”

Artist: Disturbed
Song: Indestructible
Album: Indestructible
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“I’m Specialist Lawrence. Everybody calls me Laser. I’m from Springfield, Missouri. Currently stationed at Ft. Riley. The song is called “Indestructible” it’s from Disturbed. It talks about how nothing in life can stop him. That he is going to overcome. It makes he seem larger than life. It makes me feel like I’m indestructible. It really does. Like extra piece of equipment the Army didn’t issue you: that self confidence. That you have to develop on your own. As a route clearance, we go down the road every day trying to find bombs that will go “boom.” It is actually combat and you’ve got a job to do and it gets you focused. Whenever you get to the point where you start getting complacent, that’s when people get hurt. Back in ’06, it was lot different war. Now you got to show people that soldiers are just war fighters, they’re peacekeepers, just as much as anything else. We’re all fathers, sons, brothers, uncles… and around here we’re all brothers, so we’re looking out for our family…”

Specialist Bowers. Photo: Jake Warga

Specialist Bowers

Artist: Rhett Akins
Song: Kiss My Country Ass
Album: Other Songs
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“Specialist Bowers and I’m from Pennsylvania and I’m 20 years old. This song is basically the story of my life and half our company. Half of our company is split up between the West Virgina country boys and then Pittsburgh city kids. It’s called “Kiss My Country Ass” – Rhett Akins. This song basically describes the country-side everyone. Everyone who likes to hunt, drink beer, and drive big trucks and go mudding and stuff. I listen to song everyday. You know, if I am in a bad mood, I just put this song on. It’s definitely the soundtrack for this deployment. There is a specific part in this song that says, “I’m not scared to grab my gun and fight for my homeland.” The Army’s standard is suppose to be that females are soldiers too, but we’re, ah, a lot of times we get treated as females, you know, we’re treated differently. Iraqi culture and American culture are two totally different things. It’s total culture shock here. We don’t get to see a lot of females or work with them or anything, unless they are children. I’m blonde and I have blue eyes, so the Iraqi’s love that and I will get mauled if I step outside the vehicle. My Platoon Sergeant had to pull them off of me, so we could leave, because they wouldn’t let me go, like all the paparazzi taking pictures and so … [laughs] … I like to stay in the vehicle a lot.

Sergeant Crystal Halbert

Artist: Blake Shelton
Song: Home
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“Sergeant Crystal Halbert from Manhattan, Kansas. I’m 26 years old. “Home” by Blake Shelton, I can relate too it because it talks about being surround by so many people but you just want to go home because you still feel all alone. Home is sitting at my Mom’s, waiting for her to finish cooking dinner, all the family is starting to come over, my kids are running around. I joined in 2001. The last time I was here was 07-08. Things here are a lot different. Things have gotten a lot quieter. A bit more of peaceful place to be.”

Staff Sergeant Ike Richardson

Singing gospel song by Douglas Miller
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“Alright, here’s a song by Douglas Miller … [sings]… I’m Staff Sergeant Ike Richardson originally from Alabama … [sings]… I’ve been in the Army some 18 years … [sings]… I’m a traditional guy from the south, so I like traditional gospel music … [sings]… I grew up singing. At about the age of 8 years old, I was the lead singer for a quartet group … [sings]… Ah, this is my third deployment. biblical traditions, and things we read about happen right here in this country. We aren’t too far from where Daniel was in the Lion’s Den … [sings]… A lot of guys on the extremist’s side want to say there is a holy war and stuff like that. I wouldn’t say that. I think we are in spiritual warfare all the time. Most religions are the same – they teach about love, they teach about peace, and those are the basis of the religion. So, the extremists are totally opposites to that … [sings]… Amen.”

Major James Lockridge

Bohemian Rapsody by Queen
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“I’m James Lockridge. It’s new to me; this is my first iPod I’ve ever owned. I’ve downloaded a few songs over the past few days. I’ve got Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. What I really love about this thing is the podcast. So I’ve got a bunch of programs from NPR, two Talk of the Nations, the 7:00 a.m. news, Car Talk, which I’m still working through and the last two this American life’s. It’s so different than the last two rotations, but yet you’re still in Iraq and it’s over so many years. It just seems like it’s more of story now than a song. The United States Army can go anywhere, at any time, at any place and face anybody. I learned that during the first war and with overwhelming firepower. I would never want to be anybody that had to face the United States. I mean after OIF one everybody really thought the war was over. I didn’t foresee this insurgent campaign coming on. But now we’re back, but again, I think I’m done again. I mean they got it. Could we stay her another 20 years or more? Absolutely. Do you have violence? Absolutely. Do you have corruption? Absolutely. Can the Iraqis do it on their own? Yes. That’s really the prognosis for here. It’s time to wrap this thing up, get the elections done and head on home and let the Iraqis do it. They want to do it.”


Discussion

5 comments for “Personal soundtracks to war”

  • Nancy Jo Graham

    Thank you for your work on this and to all those who participated. This is VERY moving. Very.

  • Staff Sergeant Adam Treen

    It was very neat to see and hear what I had said to Mr. Warga. You know what you have said, but it is different to see it in print. I’m glad Mr Warga came along with us that week–I think it helps to give a different viewpoint to things that most people do not get to see or hear.

    Everyone talks about the sacrifices we make, the time away from all we know and love, the death and destruction we frequently face–but underneath all of that, we are just regular people. We have the same loves, hopes, dreams, and desires as everyone else; we simply wear body armor and carry weapons around for a year at a time.

    • Katie Romero

      Sergeant Treen: I was very moved by the song you picked to depict what you are feeling in Iraq. I just turned my car off and sat there, feeling like someone punched me in the gut for 10 minutes. Many times I have wondered if soldiers believe that the US is correct in shoving our ideology down another country’s throat. Send in the clowns, don’t bother, they’re here…Peace and Blessings.

  • Don jones

    Perhaps the country ass should mention that Vietnam was a lie and killed 60,000 American service people and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. The Iraq war was trumped up to begin with and has killed thousands more. Ignorance is lethal and in the name of patriotism it’s even more dangerous.

  • http://www.jamesreiss.com/ James Reiss

    Globe-hopping Seattle photojournalist Jake Warga has produced a first-rate series of short pieces. After megatons have been said about Iraq, Warga “tells it like it is,” but in such fresh, appealing ways that you’ll want to pore over his series like a June wedding gift.

    Now that Afghanistan is our major killing field, Iraq has been pacified to the extent that Warga’s portraits of GIs are free to deploy covert activities all their—and Warga’s—own. His secret is the way he focuses on enlisted men and one enlisted woman’s favorite music. From the gospel hymns Staff Sergeant Ike Richardson belts out; to the dulcet harmonies of singer Blake Shelton, which Sergeant Crystal Halbert favors; to Pittsburgh native Sergeant Adam Treen’s preference for Barbra Streisand’s “Send in the Clowns,” Warga’s pieces are well worth hearing, with great music to back up their unscripted monologues spoken by soldiers on active duty.

    That Sergeant Treen chooses “Send in the Clowns” is ironic, considering that the U.S. armed forces may be seen as “clowns” who’ve been brought in to resolve Iraq’s far-from-funny challenges. Still, Streisand’s song is more than sardonic; it’s poignant in context, not least because of its haunting melodies and Streisand’s stellar performance.

    At under forty years of age, Jake Warga is one of the most promising, accomplished young producers on the public radio scene. If you don’t believe me, listen up—and, if possible, license—his latest series of forget-me-nots.