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Nighthawk Marches On In Southwest Asia

  • Published
  • By Technical Sgt. Kevin Cerovich
Washington, D.C. --  The U.S. Air Force Band's deployment group known as Nighthawk is continuing their mission in Southwest Asia in numerous forward-deployed locations. In spite of several significant setbacks, Nighthawk's latest mission was a complete success. The number of people to hear the group play in the last three-week period was well over a million. This would never have come to be, however, without the steely resilience of Nighthawk's members and leadership. While the group is well versed in personnel changes, the unexpected injury and subsequent departure of its guitar player, Technical Sgt. Geoff Reecer, was a very heavy blow to the mission. Reecer was also the musical director of the band.

"We could have never done what we have without his leadership those first few months. He (Reecer) was absolutely essential to what Nighthawk is," said Technical Sgt. Daniel Anderson, the group's male vocalist. In a fortunate string of events, Nighthawk's trombonist, Technical Sgt. Kevin Cerovich, also plays the guitar and immediately filled in for Reecer. Cerovich is also now the musical director of the group.

More changes awaited the members of Nighthawk upon their return to Al Udeid Air Base as their previous director of Operations, Master Sgt. Jacob McCray, was preparing to return to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling after masterfully managing the band for nearly half a year. His replacement, Senior Master Sgt. Jeremy Remley, was already up and running by the time he met Nighthawk at the flight line on March 25. His wise vision for the future of the AFCENT Band mission is clear: "What we would like to see for the future is continuing to reach out to the troops, but also starting to build up relations in the local area. We are trying to get the band out to perform for children in some of the international schools to further solidify our partnerships here," said Remley.

Nighthawk's latest travels reached an unprecedented number of people in Southwest Asia. Nighthawk was the subject of numerous videos from various Army Public Affairs Facebook sights with views above 25,000. Many of the views are likely due to a particularly zealous command sergeant major dancing to "Uptown Funk" (Bruno Mars) performed live by Nighthawk in a forward-deployed dining facility. One of the highlights of the trip was a performance on Radio Bayan which was heard by more than a million people. Several people even called in and asked questions about the group. Technical Sgt. Julia Brundage wowed listeners, and the rest of Nighthawk for that matter, by singing a Pashtun folk song live on the air.

The future looks bright for Nighthawk even as they trudge on in the face of adversity. With several more key trips and performances planned, the group is sure to reach even more U.S. and coalition partners. In so doing, Nighthawk will continue to build bridges and touch lives in the way that only the AFCENT Band can.