Photo By Sgt. Cesar Leon | The Dirty Spurs, a part of the U.S. Forces Afghanistan band, perform during a concert...... read more read more
KUWAIT NAVAL BASE, KUWAIT– The Dirty Spurs, a United States Forces Afghanistan Band, based out of Fort Hood, Texas, held a concert here, on Jan. 2, 2017.
The band performed aboard an Army watercraft, playing covers of popular songs for service members. The concert was sponsored by the 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 369th Sustainment Brigade.
“I feel like music helps people come together and makes people forget about the reality that they have to face in their real time life: being away from home, families, and sacrificing to serve their country,” said Spc. Kyra White, lead vocalist of the Dirty Spurs.
As the concert began, many concert goers stood on the side of the boat, taking in the performance and listening to the music. As the night continued on, service members began singing along with White, some even getting up to dance on the deck of the vessel.
White says, “This is what I was made to do and this is my purpose in life.”
Toward the end of the concert, the Dirty Spurs performed a medley of songs from the band Journey, a popular band from the 1980s. When they came to “Don’t Stop Believin,” they asked for a volunteer from the audience to come up and perform this classic song with them. Pfc. Alexander Malikewicz, with the 481st Transportation Company Heavy Boat, out of Port Hueneme, Calif., was brave enough to accept the invitation and perform with the Dirty Spurs. Despite some hesitation, Malikewicz did his best to perform the duet with White and the Dirty Spurs.
“I have never been the type to do that. This was a first for me. I guess the fact that I was surrounded by good company and there wasn’t many people helped,” said Malikewicz. “It was fun I am glad I did it and it really encouraged me to go out and do stuff like that more often.”
Events like this concert are aimed at helping Soldiers deal with the stress and adjustment to a deployed environment.
“These type of events give soldiers some kind of normalcy. It gives them a break from this environment,” said Capt. Juan Rodriguez, a behavioral health officer with the 369th Sustainment Brigade.
“It is a distraction from being in war. This is life, it takes them back to something them enjoy, and back to when you are a civilian,” Rodriguez added.
“I have only been out here for about three weeks now,” said Malikewicz. “I just got out of Advance Individual Training (AIT) in May and I am already here on a deployment. It was a bit rough transitioning, I heard that they were doing a concert out here on this LSV so I wanted to come out. It is really helping me adjust.”
| Date Taken: | 01.18.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 01.18.2017 08:34 |
| Story ID: | 220526 |
| Location: | KUWAIT NAVAL BASE, KW |
| Hometown: | FORT CAVAZOS, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | HARLEM, NEW YORK, US |
| Hometown: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 251 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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