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AFCENT band visits Manas on AOR tour

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  In a rousing performance of popular Irish Celtic music, covers, and even a little classic American country, the U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs band "Celtic Aire" turned Pete's Place here into a music hall fit for the finest-tuned ears.

The main entertainers were Tech. Sgt. Julia Brundage, the founding member of Celtic Aire, who played the penny whistle, Celtic flute, Bodhran (Irish drum), and sang; Master Sgt. Eric Sullivan accompanied on vocals and bass guitar; Tech. Sgt. Joseph Haughton, trained in opera, sang many lead vocal lines and played the guitar; Tech. Sgt. Emily Lewis, a violinist of 22 years, sang and played. All are members of the "Singing Sergeants" and have been together in the "Celtic Aire" band for about three years. Senior Master Sgt. Deborah Volker, violinist and member of the Air Force Strings, is also the senior noncommissioned officer in charge of the group. 

The seven are deployed from Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., for a 60-day tour of Central and Southwest Asia. Their audio engineer is Master Sgt. Mark Hannah, and their officer in charge is Maj. Keith Bland.

"Being a Celtic band from America is a dichotomy right there," Sergeant Haughton said. "People are usually timid when we start off, but once we start playing, it's kind of electric. It's a snowball effect. Every show gets better and better."

The Transit Center at Manas is the "Gateway to Afghanistan," with 30,000 troops passing through every month. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines on their way to and from the area of responsibility had a chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy the professional musicians' two-hour gig.

"It was a nice performance, I thought it was excellent," said U.S. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Ronald Sasaoka, HMH 464 MCS avionics chief deployed from Memoir, Calif. "This is something you never, ever get to see especially if you're out in the field at one of the FOBs" (forward operating bases).

He said whether troops are returning from or going to the AOR, upcoming entertainment shows on base give them something to look forward to.

Whether they were pulling people from the crowd on stage to serenade them or stepping off the platform to get into the audience, these highly-trained musicians got audible reactions from the crowd of approximately 200 people.

"My favorite part was when they interacted with the crowd," the Marine said. "That made everything more energetic."

He said he hopes to soon be able to get a recording of Celtic Aire on CD, because their performance was that excellent.

"When I found out about this job, I thought it was a great opportunity to serve my country in a different way," said Sergeant Haughton, who joined the Air Force five years ago after three years of professional singing." From day one in the Air Force, the thing that has touched me most about my job is when we can touch people who have served our nation."

Frequently, the band performs a medley for the services during their Stateside sets. They ask any U.S. military servicemembers or veterans in the audience to stand.

"It always gets me to see ladies and gentlemen stand up in pride for serving their country," he said." I feel like I made a really good decision [to be a bandsman] when I see what happens when we perform in the local community or for people at the Transit Center. I feel very fulfilled being a musician for the Air Force."