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Bob’s ballad a big hit
By Andrew Stackpool
Volume 49, No. 11, June 28, 2007 |
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BAGHDAD BLUES: GPCAPT Bob Rodgers and country vocalist Stacey Morris jam together during the 2006 Tour de Force concert in Iraq.
Photos courtesy of GPCAPT Rodgers |
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| Tuned into history : Washburn acoustic guitar from the US, signed by many members of the JTF633 rotation. |
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Conflict has always brought about songs as people sought to express their feelings through the medium of music.
A new song from a serving Air Force member now stands poised to take its place in Australian music history.
WGCDR Bob Rodgers – who was attached to JTF633 in Baghdad – was exercising near the perimeter wall at Camp Victory in early 2006 when a fire-fight erupted between insurgents outside the base perimeter and a nearby observation tower.
The crackle of .50-calibre machine guns versus the sharper note of the insurgents’ AK-47s filled the air. Then, the rotor-thump of a pair of Apache helicopters, responding to the fight. One looped wide and came in fast and low. Its 30mm chain gun growled, then … silence.
“Back in the headquarters, I was told six insurgents died in that fight,” the now GPCAPT Rodgers recalls.
“The next day, I spoke to an American soldier near the spot and he shook his head as he told me there were kids playing there only a few days earlier.”
GPCAPT Rodgers decided to express his feelings about the situation. The result is his ballad ‘Postcard From Iraq’.
“I was saddened by the state of Iraq,” he says. “I was impressed by the doggedness of the young US soldiers, impressed by the professionalism of our men and women, and realised how much I missed home and how lucky we are to be living in Australia.”
He describes the song as ‘a montage of feelings and images’.
“[It is] the things that stood out for me … the kids at the wall, the Americans going out every day and taking casualties, the longing for home, the counting-down of days, the boxes from families and friends, and the resilience of the Iraqi folk who try to maintain patterns of life in all the madness that is the insurgency.”
The title provided a snapshot of his feelings and what he saw for his family and friends back in Australia.
The accomplished musician wrote the special song at Camp Victory and says the words “just tumbled out”.
“I’ve tweaked them slightly but the song is pretty much as I recorded it on my laptop in Baghdad,” he says.
He has performed the song at the CAF’s dinner and a number of gigs, including the 2007 Tamworth Country Music Festival. He was surprised by the strong reaction received.
“It resonates strongly with ex-military people or people with military in their families,” he says. “The first time I performed it in Australia, I saw several people in the audience crying. That was very sobering and moving, and it made it difficult to finish performing it.”
Now, a potential new future awaits the song with a leading recording studio expressing an interest in it.
“More importantly, two of my sons, Benjamin and Mitchell, also play [on the recording], of which I am very proud,” GPCAPT Rodgers says.
He says he has obtained a lot of personal satisfaction from the song.
“There is some angst in it, not bitterness, just a resigned observation of some aspects of what the place was like and the sadness that lives there.
“I am very proud to have been over there with so many excellent motivated and professional people, but not all the memories are pleasant.”
| Tuned into history |
- The Australian War Memorial (AWM) recently received a valuable relic of the Australian presence in Iraq.
- While in-country, GPCAPT Rodgers taught other Service members how to play guitar and also bought a top-line Washburn acoustic guitar from the US. Many members of the JTF633 rotation signed the instrument and he added the words of the song.
- He later presented the guitar to the AWM where it is now held as part of the national collection. |
| Striking a chord |
Behind the walls the children play
Where six men died just yesterday
Did they know what they were dying for
Someone’s power or a holy war
This is my postcard from Iraq
The good old boys they go out every day
.50 calibre handshake keeps the bad guys away
Do they know what they’re fighting for
It’s hard to tell with the growing score
This is my postcard from Iraq
– excerpt from Postcard from Iraq lyrics |
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