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380AEW Article

AFCENT band rocks it out for 380th AEW

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Chance Babin
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The U.S. Air Force Central Command band Top Cover rocked it out for the deployed men and women at the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing during a visit to the base Oct. 19-21.

"We're kind of morale on a pallet," said Staff Sgt. Shane Spanier, Top Cover's musical director and keyboardist. "We go around and we set up wherever we can. We can go small or we can go big, but just being able to give back makes our mission over here real to me."

The band's visit happened to be at the same time as the NFL Champions and the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders tour from Armed Forces Entertainment, so the two groups worked together to bring a double-whammy of morale-boosting entertainment to the Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors here.

One of the highlights of the band's visit was a 1 a.m. show on the operations side of the base that included performances and meet-and-greets with the folks from the NFL tour.

It's tough for the night shift to make evening shows and events, so an early morning show on their side of the base gave them a chance to relax and enjoy some tunes, Spanier said.

"It was great. Everything was great--the cheerleaders, the football players, the band was rocking," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Vicenta Robinson, from the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron. "Shows and visits like these motivate us and give us a reason not to worry about back home, because we have home coming to visit us. And, it shows that they support us as well."

For the band members, getting out and reaching the troops, no matter what time or location is part of their mission.

"We just came out to try and play for some troops that usually don't get the type of love that we bring to the big stages during normal business hours," Spanier said. "So, we figured we'd come out at 1 a.m. and give them a show since they maybe work or sleep during the day."
The show gave the troops a break from their normal 12-hour shift, too.

"It shows that people back home care and that we're not out here alone, by ourselves," said Senior Airman Andrew Gegenhuber, a Ferndale, Wash., native assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as an aerospace ground equipment mechanic. "It's nice to have something different than just the monotonous thing of work every day."

In addition to the late night show, the band played a full-length powered show for an audience of more than 400 deployed men and women at the Chapman Activity Center Pavilion here along with several small acoustic sets at various shops throughout the base.

Spanier said the band really enjoys getting out to the work areas to see where the troops work, what they do and how intense their days are.

"There's been a lot of positive stuff done here," Spanier said. "Playing out at their work areas and just seeing smiles. We're here to entertain them, and if they're smiling we're doing our job."