BAGHDAD –It’s a memory and a hope for the future portrayed by music.
The RDoFs, a group of Fort Hood service members who reunited in Iraq, arranged and recorded a collection of songs as a dedication to Operation New Dawn.
The compilation of songs revisit service member’s experiences in Iraq as well as taking a look toward the future of Iraq. The group took its name from the acronym for the Responsible Drawdown of Forces.
“The eight songs we recorded are inspired by service in the Army, seeing soldiers in action, giving positive encouragement during the hardships of deployment, and memorial songs,” said Col. Mike Lembke, United States Forces-Iraq Chaplain and III Corps chaplain.
The four members formed the band to record songs written by Lembke, who played lead guitar and provided vocals. Capt. Ben Johnston played accompaniment guitar and the piano, while Col. Mike Shenk, USF-I and III Corps inspector general, was on drums. Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Kemp, a religious programs specialist who has since redeployed, played bass guitar.
Before deploying, Lembke, Shenk and Johnston played together in a band called The Phantoms at Fort Hood, Texas.
It was neat to find out that a few members of the band were deploying together, said Johnston, deputy chief of operations with the 36th Engineer Brigade at Joint Base Balad.
Although it wasn’t entirely clear where everyone would be stationed during the deployment or what schedules they would end up with, they all hoped the group could meet at least once to play together.
An opportunity came in June for the group to get together, said Lembke. With Operation New Dawn and the spiritual resiliency initiative, it became an opportunity to record something for the soldiers to relate to.
Both Johnston and Shenk said they were excited when Lembke approached them about getting together to record a selection of songs. They finally met at the end of June to record the music in the broadcast studio in Al Faw Palace.
“You can’t just give classes on resiliency,” Lembke said. “We’ve got to do more and music is a universal language we use to reach out to others with a positive message.”
People listen to different kinds of music as well, so the track list is a mix of different music styles including rock, blues and folk, Lembke said.
The songs really make service members reflect on the changes that happened during their deployment and the U.S. military’s time in Iraq, Shenk said. There are also songs that talk about the responsibility of service members to take care of one another when times get rough.
The title song for the collection was a gift from the band to the Iraqi people, Lembke said. It’s about hope for the Iraqi people and the rebuilding of their society as well as the trust created between each other and U.S. Forces.
“New Dawn is an appropriate title on many levels,” Shenk said. “Both from the obvious change of mission perspective and the individual change in attitude perspective; it really provides an opportunity for the listener to define the meaning of a New Dawn for themselves.”
“It’s exciting to be a part of something that is so symbolic of what we’ve come to as an Army and helping rebuild in Iraq,” said Johnston. “Plus the songs are pretty eclectic and all very positive.”
“You hope that tunes like these might inspire somebody, comfort them, give them something fun to listen to, give them something to think about so they might seek help,” Lembke said. “It’s just another way for us as Soldiers to give back to others.”
The music can be downloaded at www.dvidshub.net under the title Spiritual Fitness Now.
| Date Taken: | 09.04.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2010 04:20 |
| Story ID: | 56068 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 9 |
This work, Fort Hood garage band reunites for 'New Dawn', by SFC Britney Hiatt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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