Notes fading for Fort Sam Houston band
SAN ANTONIO — For crowds in this Army town dating to Texas statehood, enjoying patriotic songs played by Fort Sam Houston’s band has been one of its great public traditions.
But it’s coming to an end.
To save money, the Army is breaking up the 323rd Army Band, called Fort Sam’s Own, a 30-yearold unit and the last of a continuous line of bands that, for well over a century, have serenaded command change ceremonies, played for fallen soldiers at funerals and lifted spirits at Fiesta parades.
The 323rd’s busy schedule will go on for some nine months yet — its marching band performed in Leon Valley for the suburb’s July Fourth celebration, for example — but it will end its long run after one more Fiesta next year.
“Obviously, there’s a sense of loss,” said the band’s commander, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jonathan Ward. “Military bands are the connection between an impersonal Army and the American public. We are the face of the Army. We’re the part of the Army the public can see, touch and
interact with on a regular basis.”
There are 91 Army bands playing today, down from 99 a few years ago. By the fall of 2018, four bands including the 323rd will be phased out, along with detachments of two others, the result of a routine analysis of the Army’s structure as it increases to 476,000 active-duty soldiers this year.
When the last note from Fort Sam’s Own echoes in the air next year, a storied history will remain, going back to at least the early 1890s — along with one big question: Who steps in to fill the void?
The 323rd does roughly 350 performances a year, including stops in Austin, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley. That’s about a gig a day, including its smaller ensembles.
Other bands affected
Ward said he’s had conversations with the Air Force Band of the West at Joint Base San AntonioLackland — another busy unit, which logs more than 125,000 miles a year, often out of state — about how much slack it could pick up, including on-post events such as command change ceremonies.
“If it’s a colonel or a general officer, I imagine there would be some pressure to cover those, but they might not be able to,” he said. “Honestly, when you’re talking about them picking up 350 missions for us, I’d say they could cover a quarter of those, maybe. Certainly not half.”
The other bands that will be phased out in the fall of 2018 are the 389th Army Band at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.; the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Band at Fort Eustis, Va., and the 62nd Army Band on Fort Huachuca, Ariz. The Army also will eliminate the 282nd Army Band’s detachment at Fort Gordon, Ga., and the 283rd Army Band’s detachment at Fort Rucker, Ala.
The Army Reserve will lose three of its 16 bands by 2019. The Army National Guard’s 51 bands won’t be cut.
“I know that the Department of Defense is often tasked with doing the unthinkable with maybe not all the resources that are available, so they’re tough decisions,” Ward said. “In a perfect world, we would all stay around.”
Bands are ‘universal’
The 323rd is a versatile organization. It can spin off a woodwind trio, a New Orleans-style brass band, jazz and rock groups, and the 12-member Latin Invasion ensemble. After the concert band’s 54 members give their last performance, possibly at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston for Fiesta, all those smaller outfits will eventually disappear as well, their musicians scattered to Army posts around the country by Oct. 1, 2018.
That will end an era that goes back at least 125 years. The band was important enough in the late 19th century that the Army in 1893 built a barracks for musicians.
Bands have been a part of military organizations since ancient Roman times. Retired Lt. Gen. Guy Swan takes issue with critics who say they do nothing more than entertain generals — they raise soldier morale in peace and war, bridge the gap between civilians and the military, and contribute to cultural engagement abroad, he said.
“For most of us that have served all over the world, anytime you’re involved in a ceremonial thing with another country, there is a military band involved,” Swan said. “Even when I was in Iraq in 2008, we had a ceremony and there would be a bunch of Iraqi soldiers with tubas and trumpets. It’s universal.”