Being a Soldier in the United States Army requires focus, dedication,

committment and competence. Sol-diers must be ready to complete their mission at a moment’s notice . In the Eighth Army Band, Soldier musicians keep busy fulfi lling that responsibility.

This spring the band has completed and contributed to many training

events at the Company and Battalion level to maintain its readiness and ability to complete any mission. These events include rollover similation, chemical biological radiological and nuclear readiness, basic rifl e marksman-ship, M249 machine gun training, and of course, physical readiness training. Pictured here is SPC Julian Jenkins with the Eighth Army Band Guindon at our recent Eighth Army HHB Organizational Day Battalion Run.

The Eighth Army Band is always ready

to Fight Tonight!

July 2014The ROK StarThe ROK StarThe ROK Star

Congratulations!It comes as no surprise that the Eighth Army Band is full of outstanding Soldiers, but this year, many have been formally recognized for their excellence.

The Eighth Army Band grad-uated four Soldiers from the Warrior Leader Course, with one student recieving the 4th highest GPA of the class and two achieving Commandant’s List status.

The EIghth Army Band swept the Battalion compeition boards. See last page for details.

SGT James Guffey, and SGT Tobias Jaeger recently became promotable. SPC Jordan Rob-erts was promoted to SGT, and SSG Chas Gunter was identified on the SFC promotion list. Congrats!

“It is a great experience to see the smiles on people’s faces

when we play.” - SPC C. Purvis

President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support

of our country. The single day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. On Saturday, May 17th, the Eighth Army Band

celebrated Armed Forces Day at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. The band participated in a parade and performance sponsored by the VFW. The Army Band performed patriotic marches, and enjoyed inter-acting with Veterans of the Korea and Vietnam who were in attendance.

Eighth Army Band Honors Our Nation’s Heroes

Hail to the Chief

In March, President Barrack Obama visited Yongsan

Garrison in support of United States Servicemembers serving overseas. The Eighth Army Band provided musical support for the mission including pre and post music, and of course, ‘Hail to the Chief’ and ‘Wash-ington Post.’ Though for some,

performing for the President of the United States has been a somewhat regular occurence in their careers as Army Musicians, many of our Soldiers experienced this honor for the first time. “As an oboist, I don’t perform on many ceremonial missions, but I jumped at the chance to honor the Presi-dent.” - SPC Victoria Chamberlin

Pictured right are members of the Spartan Brass Band

who performed at the Yeouido Spring Flower Festival cele-brating Korea’s beautiful cherry blossoms. The Spartan Brass Band loves connecting with the community through their energetic and interactice perfo-mances. Under the direction of Music Performance Team Lead-er, SSG Christian Williams, the Spartan Brass Band is quickly becoming a favorite among our Korean audiences, as well as Soldiers here at Yongsan!

The ROK Star will circulate bimonthly to and keep you up to date with the Eighth Army Band! The ROK Star is edited and compiled by the Eighth Army

Band Public Affairs Office. For more information, please visit us on the web at facebook.com/8thArmyBand

Congratulations!Eighth Army Wightman NCO Academy

Warrior Leader Course Graduates

SPC Victoria ChamberlinROK Army Award for

4th Highest GPACommadant’s List

SPC Michael ChamberlinCommandant’s List

SPC Daniel Erickson SPC Miles Raker

Eighth Army HHB Soldier and NCO of the 1st Quarter

(The Band takes all!)

SPC Victoria Chamberlin SGT Elliott Chodkowski