Staff Sgt. Jason Ford, 1st Inf. Div. Band, conducts the joint 1st Inf. Div. and Junction City Community band in a rendition of "An Irving Berlin Christmas" Dec. 14 at the C.L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City. The assembly of musicians performed t...
When the 1st Infantry Division's headquarters deployed to Southwest Asia last fall to help win the fight against ISIL, the division's band was split. Most members of the 1st Inf. Div. Band deployed to enhance the morale of the fighting force, while a half-dozen musicians remained at Fort Riley to fulfill duties at home. With the recent return of the DHHB, a reunited band is back together and ready to perform.
Soldiers from the 1st Inf. Div. Band are set to showcase their skills in a free recital at 2 p.m. July 19 at Junction City's C.L. Hoover Opera House.
"The full band is back," said Staff Sgt. Jason Ford, 1st Inf. Div. Band operations noncommissioned officer. "It's slowly been building back up into a larger band."
Despite having only six musicians at Fort Riley during the DHHB deployment, the band continued to fulfil all of its duties in and around post.
"We did not let one mission go because we could not support it," Ford, a native of Asheville, North Carolina, said. "We completed all the missions the 1st Inf. Div. Band would have done on Fort Riley."
Ford said this wasn't always easy, as his small band would often have back-to-back performances. In March, however, an additional six Soldiers were assigned to the band, allowing for two groups -- a brass quintet for ceremonial functions and a jazz combo for formal events.
For the Sunday recital, the Soldiers personally selected the songs they wanted to play for the community surrounding Fort Riley.
"We've got about 12 pieces and about 20 Soldiers playing," Ford said. "We've got everything from classical to bluegrass music. It should be very, very good."
The 1st Inf. Div. Band is no stranger to the C.L. Hoover Opera House. The band performed a holiday concert with the Junction City Community Band in December at the performance hall.
"The opera house is an exceptionally good place to play," Ford said. "We've enjoyed every time we've gotten to play there. It's fantastic."
Spc. Brandon Bridges, trombone player with the 1st Inf. Div. Band, said he hoped to see a large turnout at the recital.
"This gives us an opportunity to show the public how diverse we are as musicians," Bridges, a Tracy, California, native, said. "There are people here who came to the Army band right out of high school, there are some who taught for 10, 15 years or have been in various performing groups, so it's really cool to get everyone's different background and different perspective. And now we get to show that through these self-selected pieces."
For one member new to the band, it's an opportunity to play for the first time with the larger 1st Inf. Div. group.
"I'm excited," said Spc. Andrew Osipov, a guitar player who joined the band in December at Fort Riley during the DHHB's deployment. "We have a lot of people, and it's a different experience."
The Moldova native said the audience could expect to hear something new from the military band at the recital.
"The jazz combo, we have a very traditional set of tunes that we perform, so people are familiar with that," Osipov said. "None of that is going to be played.
"I think it's a cool experience. If you like what the military band does, it's going to be a good way to look at it from a different perspective."
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