Courtesy Photo | Army 1st Lt. Richard W. Powell II of Albany, N.Y., plays bagpipes for members of Task...... read more read more
By Marine Capt. Dan Huvane
Task Force Spartan Public Affairs
JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - On otherwise quiet afternoons, service members may hear the strains of an unlikely instrument for this location: the bagpipes.
The piper, Army 1st Lt. Richard W. Powell II of Albany, N.Y., is the fire-support officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Support Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, here. He has been playing an instrument that's no stranger to warfare, but still an object of curiosity in this part of the world.
One day, his interpreters saw him practicing on a chanter - the flute-like device on which bagpipers select their notes - and asked him what it was.
"They had never heard anything like it before," Powell said.
As described by Powell, a set of bagpipes includes a chanter, a camel's gut and one drone (the pipe that emits the sound). They originated in Egypt and migrated to Ireland and Scotland, and the bravery of the Irish and Scots who used them for communication and motivation made them legendary in warfare.
Powell, who is a proud member of the Schenectady Pipe Band of Schenectady, N.Y., has been playing the bagpipes for eight years.
He credits his father, a retired police officer who helped start the Albany (N.Y.) Police Department's bagpipe band, for stoking his interest. His friend Matt Kelly, who plays the snare drum in the Schenectady Pipe Band, was another influence.
"I figured, what the hell â?¦ he can keep the beat while I play," Powell said with a laugh.
Powell once played to the accompaniment of a controlled detonation - as B Company Soldiers completed a training mission and marched away from their objective. It was no accident that he was playing on St. Patrick's Day here, and an audience of Soldiers and Marines listened happily to his tunes.
"This is one of the best things ever on St. Paddy's Day and something I'm not forgetting. It's simply amazing," said Marine Pfc. Arthur E. Reynolds Jr. of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, who had never heard bagpipes in person " until March 17.
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 03.24.2006 14:15 |
| Story ID: | 5848 |
| Location: | JALALABAD, AF |
| Web Views: | 215 |
| Downloads: | 114 |
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