What do they do for the military? Do they fight? Do they get paid? Are they outsourced musicians or are they actually part of the military? Also, why?
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I was in military band in the 2000s. In addition to ceremonial, they act as a public relations mechanism. I played in their concert band, jazz big band, and rock band, we were touring/playing shows to general public the majority of year. Great times
It is actually extremely competitive to get into any of the military bands. I have worked with a few of the musicians. Their military job is being in the band, so they don’t “fight” in the sense that someone in the infantry would.
They are generally very experienced musicians – often with college or higher music education backgrounds, or past competitive or professional experience as musicians.
They do go through basic training, have to meet the physical fitness standards, and do all the regular military tasks (like pass weapons qualification).
There are several Army bands and it is competitive for which one you get into and your position in the band. It is extremely high stress. The “highest” level band is the one you might seeing playing at the white house or big events.
Ok, so I have spent 13 years as an oboist in the US Army bands. In addition to ceremonies and troop entertainment that has already been mentioned, we are often used for “soft diplomacy.” We can go places where regular troops couldn’t. My unit had played in Red Square (before I got there.) We were supposed to go to Moscow again, then Russia invaded Crimea, so we couldn’t. But our replacement mission was Latvia. We were able to be a military presence to our allies near Russia, let them know the US hadn’t forgotten about them, but in a way that wouldn’t trigger Russia.
Also background music during state dinners, recruitment, parades, “friendship” concerts in foreign countries, etc. The military is actually the largest employer of musicians in the US.
We do go through basic training, with the exception of The Presidents Own. When deployed, often used as gate guards and the like. I have also done such fun tasks as clean a moat and sandbag a fort for a hurricane. We have to keep our physical fitness up and qualify on the rifle twice a year. Depending on the service depends on how much musician to how much soldier you are. Air Force is more musician than Airmen. Marines are mainly Marines that sometimes get to play their instruments.
A friend of mine is in the military band. Another enlisted once made the mistake of taunting her for being in the band and was overheard by her CO. His response went something like, “Do you know the difference between you and her, Private? The difference Is both of you can do your job, but you can’t do hers. But since you think you can, I’ll give you both 100 push-ups and you can do hers, too.”
So 1) they’re real soldiers, and 2) don’t get caught by their CO implying they’re not.
The flame throwing guitar player intimidates the enemy as they fight for gasoline and water.
One of the weirdest experiences from my childhood in the 80s was when an Air Force band visited my school. Except not a marching band, but a rock band. This was in 6th grade. They herded us into the gym and five people in Air Force uniforms proceeded to melt our pre-pubescent faces. At the end there was a brief spiel about how awesome the air force was.
Here’s in interesting article by the former general of the US Army in Europe where he says a military’s band can be seen as an indicator of their strength and capabilities, since training and fielding a competent and talented band is similar to fielding a competent combat force.
[https://www.thebulwark.com/i-commanded-u-s-army-europe-heres-what-i-saw-in-the-russian-and-ukrainian-armies/](https://www.thebulwark.com/i-commanded-u-s-army-europe-heres-what-i-saw-in-the-russian-and-ukrainian-armies/)
I was in the Army Band for 12 years, the most fun job I ever had.
We have to go through basic training, and all the same qualifications that any other soldier would. Qualify on rifle once a year, common task testing, all that fun stuff.
The musical missions were of many different kinds: ceremonial music for military ceremonies like graduations and change of commands; concerts for important events like the post Fourth of July; and parades and concerts in the civilian community to spread awareness and good will. A lot depended on where the band is located too. For example, I did two years in Germany where we played jazz and popular music at small town festivals almost every weekend. At a training post in the US, I did 2-4 graduation ceremonies every week.
When not playing music, we were responsible for everything else that goes on in a company sized unit. Where most units have a supply sergeant and admin people, bands don’t – the band members do all that as well. I’ve been a supply sergeant for a band, and the unit IT specialist, and leaned all about personnel administration.
When there’s a war, if the band is part of a Division, the band’s primary mission is division headquarters security, and POW processing. In places like Iraq and Afghanistan, we also did a lot of morale music, sending small music units out to play for soldiers in other areas.
Retired Military Bandsman here,
(Army Active Duty)
1. We perform during ceremonies to help bring a sense of professionalism, history and pride to the units we support.
We also perform for civilians regularly to help bridge the divide between the military and civilian populations— we need the civilian population to have a generally good opinion of the military and a band is far more approachable in general.
2. Every soldier is trained on how to use their weapons effectively, if we are in a position where we are being attacked you damn well better believe we will be shooting back. Yes we do deploy, yes we take our weapons with us.
3. We get paid the same rate as any other soldier of our grade (rank) does. Though we come in at a higher rank (Specialist, E4) because you simply can’t train someone to play an instrument in 6 months—therefore everyone auditions to come in and knows how to perform before hand.
4. No, we are not outsourced musicians we are full time Soldiers (in the active component).
5. Why? Because morale is a thing, traditions are a thing, respect for history and being able to interface effectively with the public both at home and abroad are incredibly important. We are not the only solution to these things, but we all have a role to play—go figure, the military has people for everything.
(US Army Clarinetist 2002-2006) Army musicians are like any other soldier’s job in the Army. There are “special” Army bands, but there also Division and Corps bands as well, (I was a member of the 1st Armored Division band from 2003-2005, for example). The mission on an Army bandsman is ceremonial (funerals, promotion ceremonies, patriotic holidays), and morale (rock bands, Christmas concerts, parades). While I was with 1AD we were deployed to Iraq for over a year, we did all the same things we would do above, as well as work guard duty, run convoys, and basically any other jobs that needed to be done. Soldier first, bandman second. I went to Basic Training and Advanced Training at the School of Music, before going to my first band. I had to qualify on my weapon, and do any other training that was required by the unit. This is is pretty much the same as any Army job.
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