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Sirocco tours Southern Iraq, boosts morale

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Scott Saldukas
  • 407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
ALI BASE, Iraq --  When the general population hears the word Sirocco it seems to be associated with the Volkswagen sports coup that was manufactured in the 1970's. Sirocco is also the name of the Air Force Central Command rock band that performed at Ali Base, Contingency Operating Base Adder and Forward Operating Base Hunter, Iraq, over the Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Sirocco, which means wind in Italian, visited the installations with the intentions of bringing a little piece of home to servicemembers deployed to Iraq over the holiday weekend.

The FOB hopping rock tour for servicemembers began Thanksgiving Day at the Big Top on Ali Base then worked its way to the Sable Stable at FOB Hunter three days later. The tour came to an end with an intimate performance at Memorial Hall on COB Adder Nov. 30. Although weather conditions didn't allow the group to make one show during their trip, the rock tour of Southern Iraq was a huge success.

"The Air Force Band was awesome," said Mark Reynolds who is deployed to FOB Hunter. "This is hands down, the best thing to come out here since I have been here. For the band to come out and perform here allowed us to relax and have a good time while listening to great music."

The seven person band plays a wide variety of music from country to oldies and new Top-40 hits.

"Playing for such a large demographic allows us to play a little bit of music for everyone," said Master Sgt. Tony DeLuzio the drummer and NCOIC of the Rock Band Sirocco. "It's great, we play for a diverse crowd whether they are young, old or all over."

Like any section of the military, Sirocco has multiple missions they strive to accomplish. The first is their outreach mission which involves the countries of their destination and the local nationals that attend their shows.

"This allows the locals to see the softer side of the U.S. Armed Forces," said Tech. Sgt. Christin Foley, lead vocalist for the Rock Band Sirocco.
Their second and most rewarding duty is troop support.

"We come out and try to bring a little piece of home for them and hope they can forget about everything except having a good time," said Sergeant Foley.

Heightening the morale of the servicemembers here during the bands visit won't be a short term enhancement for the troops, said Army Sgt. Maj. Steve Lewis who is deployed to FOB Hunter.

"This can last two days, two weeks, two months or the duration of the deployment for the troops here," he said. "Having something like this come around is great for the morale of the base."

Although FOB Hunter is a relatively small operating base with approximately 600 military personnel, all came out at some point to see the show. Touring the smaller bases in the AOR is what the AFCENT band is set out to do and with good reason.

"It's important that event's like this happen because the smaller FOBs don't have the opportunity to get the big name celebrities to come out," said the sergeant major. "This is a big deal for us and it showed with the turn out we had today."

While most of their time is spent performing around the area of responsibility for troop support, the band is deployed to Southwest Asia, from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

"Typically we are deployed for two months and travel to smaller installations in the AOR to boost morale for coalition warriors through music and entertainment," said Sergeant DeLuzio who is deployed from Lackland AFB, Texas. "I love playing the drums and serving my country, so being able to make a difference by playing music is very enjoyable for me."

While there is something different each venue offers, there was a general consensus between band members about what the best part of the job was.

"Seeing everyone smile and get lost in the music lets us know that we have done our job," said Sergeant Foley. "Coming out also allows us to meet other Americans serving our nation, and I hope I have the opportunity to play for more troops and build stronger relations with foreign countries in the future."