The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Dana Bowers serves with song
Hamilton High School grad a key member of military’s Band of Mid-America
Dana Bowers admits if someone would have told her when she was a student that she would join the United States Air Force after college, she would have thought that person was crazy.
“I would have laughed if someone had told me I would be in the Air Force today,” she admitted.
But crazy or not, that person would have been right, and Bowers’ enlistment has certainly opened new doors for the Hamilton High School class of 2012 graduate. As a member of the Band of MidAmerica for the Air Force, she gets to sing and play music every day for her military duties. She also gets to travel, and recently went to Kansas City for a major milestone performance.
On Memorial Day, standing alone in front of tens of thousands of spectators andseveral cameras, Bowers took the microphone and sang “God Bless America” at the Kansas City Royals home baseball game against the Minnesota Twins.
“It was really exciting, but a little scary at first because of all of the build-up,” Bowers said, noting there were five cameras moving in on her as she prepared to sing.
The daughter of Diana and David Bowers of Erieville, she was a mainstay and lead character of her high school’s musical performances as a student. She was also an invaluable volunteer singing and playing guitar with the Heritage Farm Music Group in Eaton, helping lead a band of persons with developmental challenges as they performed pop hits like Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” and “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.
She also wrote and sang the poignant “Song for Newtown” in 2012 after the tragedies at the Connecticut school there -Newtown waswhere she grew up, so that news hit her hard. Her song for her old neighbors was her empathic way of sharing their pain and facing the future together.
Bowers earned a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Plattsburgh, and after college was the office manager of Pilates on Hudson in Peekskill, a holistic and alternative health service. She said she actually took a year off from music. But then she was encouraged to look into the offerings of the Air Force and their numerous traveling bands, groups they play a wide variety of music
“This really has been a great opportunity for me— I have no regrets. This has really opened up a lot of doors for me. It‘s good tobe able to consistently do music, while serving in the Air Force at the same time.”
— Dana Bowers
for performances all over the country and beyond.
She played it smart though, by making sure she would have the post in the band before she even signed up.
“I auditioned for the Air Force band before I enlisted,” she recalled of that Oct. 16 trial last year. “Most of the time people just get random jobs but I knew I would be in the Air Force band.”
But there was one more issue to address before she could join the service — Bowers had a tattoo of a bass and treble clef behind her ear, and that was a nono for the Air Force. Once she was certain she would be able to join the band, she had that tattoo removed, she said.
Bowers enlisted in January, and started basic training on Feb. 13. That was the worst part for her, she admitted, certainly echoing the sentiments of many new recruits past, present and future.
Airman 1st Class Bowers graduated from basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas on April 6, and her par- ents were there to share the good tidings with her -- the first time they had seen her since she left. She is now stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where she has been for just over a month.
Her duties with the 60-member Band of MidAmerica — and its smaller comboHot Brass, which has some 12 musicians — gives her the chance to sing and even play a little guitar. It also offers traveling opportunities, and their Kansas City tour took her to a performance with a local veterans group, a concert opening for the Kansas City Symphony, and a visit to their World War II memorial. The highlight, of course, was the Kansas City Royals game at Kauffman Stadium.
It’s a big part of her job to sing anthems, Bowers said, and she only learned of that opportunity about a week earlier. But even in the midst of the hectic preparations for that solo song that day, she suddenly had some apprehensions -- that thankfully were short-lived.
“For a brief, fleeting moment, I felt like I couldn’t do it,” she admitted. “But I had to do it. I just had to try not to over-think it. I just couldn’t think about the 35,000 people out there.”
Bowers said they will next tour the Illinois and Missouri area for a Fourth of July concert series.
Her work days start with rehearsals from 9 a.m. to around 11 a.m., then after lunch she will continue to practice. Bowers also attends to administration work in the afternoons, working for their Air Force in-processing. But it’s the making of the music and sharing it with their audiences that is the most important part of her service, Bowers noted.
“My priority is music,” she said. “This really has been a great opportunity for me -- I have no regrets. This has really opened up a lot of doors for me. It‘s good to be able to consistently do music, while serving in the Air Force at the same time. ”
To watch Bowers sing the national anthem, visit www.mlb.com/royals/video/ twins- royalshonor- memorial- day/c2094698683?tid=8877722