Starlifter rocks the old world, croons the new

Starlifter vocalist Airman 1st Class Carmen Emborski getting down with the crowd at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. (Photo courtesy of Staff. Sgt Anthony T. Graham)

(AMC Blog Editor’s Note — Airman 1st Class Carmen Emborski is a vocalist with the U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America’s variety show group, Starlifter.  The eight-person ensemble is currently touring and performing throughout the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, promoting troop morale, diplomacy, and community outreach to host-nation communities.  Airman Emborski has graciously agreed to keep us posted on the band’s adventures in the AOR.)

The uneven ascent of concrete stairs to an aged concert hall with Kyrgyz children who want to help transport any sound equipment they can lift.  These are the residents of the boarding school/orphanage in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, who find immense joy in helping, who overwhelm with joy in the first song of their first rock concert. 

Senior Airman Adam Braatz sharing his "Combat Keytar" with a Kyrgyz student in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Photo courtesy of Master Sgt. Dan Kenemore)

Push-ups in perfect form with the Army sergeant who, moved by hearing “Sweet Home Alabama,” runs up on stage mid-song to shake hands with the band and then drops into some motivational PT. 

Jazz, its inherent conversation easing alliance and mutual understanding between the American embassy and the Sheik of the United Arab Emirates.  The diffusing desert haze receiving the bright sun, and peering directly into the setting orb as it lowers behind the Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi. 

Those three, and about a gazillion other moments, can only begin to describe the contrast of the last three weeks for Starlifter – your Air Force rock band currently deployed to Central Command and very soon coming home to Scott AFB! 

Our first TDY (that inspired the last blog post) fulfilled the primary purpose of an Air Force band – troop morale – by visiting FOBs, COBs and COPs all over Iraq as our servicemen enable an independent and democratic Iraq. 

The last three weeks – at the Transit Center at Manas and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; and several undisclosed locations in Southwest Asia – took us further into the objectives of an outstanding Air Force band. 

Here’s the thing – we are a quirky career field.  Every AFSC (Air Force career) in the Air Force has a very specific and defined function. Ours? Check this out:  foster troop morale; proclaim Air Force capabilities;  inspire patriotism and recruit America’s next Airmen; share the legacy of the Big Blue; strengthen the professional reputation of the Air Force to varied publics; and enable international relationships through music. 

How cool are those last two, in particular? As a bandsman, there is no greater opportunity to fulfill each of those objectives than through deployment.  How do we do that? 

[One of the band's first stops during this leg of their journey] has an entire section of the city dedicated to learning and the furthering of science, design and engineering.  So, Starlifter set up in the center of the academic campuses (Texas A&M, Carnegie-Mellon, Cornell and Virginia Commonwealth satellite locations included) and pumped up the Santana medley for the international audience of scholars and academics; future leaders.  Our IQ increased 10 points by pure osmosis! 

Surrounded by swooning drummer hopefuls, Tech. Sgt. Christie McGowan reaches out to a cluster of Kyrgyz children (Photo courtesy of Master Sgt. Dan Kenemore)

A few days later we packed up our knit caps and scarves and traveled up to the Transit Center at Manas, near the northern border of Kyrgyzstan, just a mountain ascent away from China.  There, we performed through language boundaries, age gaps and cultural differences to share the universal spirit of Rock. The audiences varied from Kyrgyz orphans to Commandants at the Kyrgyz’ Frunze-1 military academy.  Who would expect this wide scope of concertgoers to know Banarama’s “Venus” word  for word? 

The time that we spent in Kyrgyzstan is too momentous to capture in a brief blog.  We did our “job” to perform for the deserving children of Bishkek, the military of Kyrgyzstan, and also our American troops at Manas, but the true privilege was ours. 

We are now concluding a TDY (deployment) at another undisclosed location, where only 10 days removed from the third-world and tradition of Kyrgyzstan, Starlifter revised its usual rock into sweet/hot jazz to represent the U.S. Air Force during a U.S. Embassy’s America Day Celebration.   Playing for Sheikh and Ambassador, royalty and diplomat?  Glamorous, darling, glamorous. 

So, your Air Force Band Starlifter has had quite the enigmatic couple of weeks.  It is our honor to experience the breadth of work that the U.S. military is doing in the Middle East; to perform for the most deserving audience in the world (our Servicemen!), enhance international relations, and connect our world through music. 

This is A1C Carmen Emborski.  Thank you for following the adventures of Starlifter in the AOR.  For more news, Starlifter has two fantastic Facebook pages with almost daily updates!  Find us under “AFCENT Band” and “USAF Band of Mid-America.”   Also, you can visit the AFCENT Band Website (http://www.afcent.af.mil/units/afcentband) for a collection of articles, photos and other media. 

We’ve got two weeks left before heading home to Scott AFB and our AMC family; two weeks and innumerous potential moments of service, support and solid American Rock and Roll.