Air Cav lends support to Zack & Jim's 18th Annual Blowout

By Sgt. Richard Wrigley, 1st ACB 1st Cav. Div. PAOJanuary 31, 2011

FORT HOOD, Texas - Command Sgt. Maj. Glen Vela (left), a native of Fort Worth, Texas, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, leads soldiers in a salute while Spc. Douglas Livengood, of Big Spring, Texas, sings the National Anthem for the audi...
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – FORT HOOD, Texas - Command Sgt. Maj. Glen Vela (left), a native of Fort Worth, Texas, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, leads soldiers in a salute while Spc. Douglas Livengood, of Big Spring, Texas, sings the National Anthem for the audi... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
FORT HOOD, Texas - Command Sgt. Maj. Glen Vela, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, leads Soldiers in a salute while Spc. Douglas Livengood, of Big Spring, Texas, sings the National Anthem for the audience as...
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – FORT HOOD, Texas - Command Sgt. Maj. Glen Vela, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, leads Soldiers in a salute while Spc. Douglas Livengood, of Big Spring, Texas, sings the National Anthem for the audience as... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT HOOD, Texas - Every year, Zack Owen and Jim Cody, hosts for the Zack and Jim radio show on WACO 100, host an "Annual Blowout" concert to show their appreciation for their fans.

This year, for the first time, they invited Soldiers from Fort Hood to participate.

Approximately 50 Soldiers from the 1st ACB, 1st Cavalry Division, were invited to Waco, Texas to open the concert with the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance and the Army Song, Jan. 22.

Zack and Jim have been extremely involved with the military and the Fort Hood community in the past. They deployed to Iraq twice to visit troops and broadcast their show from theatre, according to Owen. Also, they dedicate two segments of their radio show a week to talk to troops on air, and just recently, spent a week last November broadcasting from a different location on Fort Hood each day for their morning show.

"They were just recently here out at the airfield and we had a great show with them," said Command Sgt. Maj. Glen Vela, a native of Fort Worth, Texas. "They liked the way we did business, so they invited us down to do the same thing with them in Waco."

"When we came to Fort Hood for a week [to broadcast our radio show] 1st ACB did it right, so we wanted to incorporate [1st ACB] in to our 18th Annual Blowout," said Owen. "After [Jim and I] saw [1st ACB perform], I said that I don't care how bad they sound, we need to get these guys to our concert."

The concert was a success, with more than 5,000 people in attendance, said Owen.

Artists that played there were Kimberly Kelly, Deryl Dodd and the Homesick Cowboys, Kristen Kelly and the Modern Day Drifters, Roger Creager, and the Bellamy Brothers.

All in all, it was Zack and Jim's support of the troops that showed through when they invited the 1st ACB to open up their concert.

"They are really great guys as far as their support for Fort Hood," said Vela.

"They appreciate the military and they had a great show ... it was awesome," said Sgt. John Hadder, a native of Gordon, Ala., a medic with Headquarters Company, 1st ACB.