Soldiers ‘Band’ Together for Relaxation
By Spc. Bryan D. Kinkade
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HEADHUNTER, Baghdad, Iraq – Some guitars, a drum kit and somebody to blare out vocals is all it took for five members of this coalition base camp to get things started. What they started was their band, called Headhunter Main. “Not only is it a morale booster for us to play, it’s a morale booster for everyone on the FOB,” said Spc. Travis Conway, from headquarters company, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment.
The band started up a month and a half ago and is preparing for their first concert in Baghdad. They will be playing for the Soldiers on FOB Headhunter for their 4th of July party outside ‘Toby’s Favorite Bar’ at 8:30 p.m. “We just ran into each other and started playing,” 2nd Lt. Pat Miller, HHC, 1-9 Cav., said. The musicians play mainly slow, alternative rock music from bands such as Staind, Incubus and Nickelback, but they also play some country from Garth Brooks to Toby Keith. “When we’re in there, we’re not in Baghdad anymore, we’re above the world,” Conway, the lead guitarist and vocalist, said during a practice.
The band practices in the camp’s chapel as often as it can. Their ensemble is made up of five troopers, including lead and backup guitars, bass guitar, drums and vocals.
Miller said they work everything though their battalion’s command sergeant major.
“We told him we wanted to do a concert and it just happened to be on the 4th of July, when we’d be ready,” the lead vocalist said. Headhunter Main will be the main show for their concert, but another band will open for them. 
The Homeland Security Band, which is a trio comprised of Arkansas Army National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment, 39th Brigade Combat Team, plays similar music, but a little harder. Their music selection consists of Nirvana, Weezer and other rock bands. The bands practice for their upcoming jam session and morale concert on the fourth, where they will be playing off and on with each other. The band members say this is an awesome morale booster. “This kind of gives us a release and some place to go,” Miller said. “It makes the time fly by 100 times faster,” Headhunter Main drummer Cpl. Robert Heckler, HHC, 1-9 Cav., added. “I never thought in a million years that I would be in a band in Baghdad.”
