This is New Wisco Weekend, I'm Lisa Hale.
Often we talk about the healing power you can find in music and there's a growing number
of programs centered around military veterans sharing their stories through music.
One is called Warrior Songs.
Terry Bar joins musician Kelsey Miles in studio to learn more about the project and we get
to hear a song written for it.
It's a really cool project, it's by a non-profit organization and it's really using music
to facilitate the healing of veterans and in particular for female veterans after their
service.
Why do you think tying music into veterans and their lives moving forward?
How does that make a difference for them?
Oh, that's a great question.
I mean, and I can't speak from experience but just from the testimonials that I was
given to help with the songwriting process and the people I've talked to, you know, music
is just a way to really kind of organize things that have happened in your head and to
project them in a way that helps you come to terms with things or to make you feel connected
to maybe others who have felt that way.
So I think music in general makes us feel that way but in particular for this case it's
really, it sounds like it was really helpful for a lot of veterans to have this.
I mean, the main reason I got into music was because I was going through a hard time
and music kind of found me.
Do you feel that the CD can touch just about any person if they're going through a tough
time?
I think so.
I think that there's a lot of things that are relevant to a lot of different people.
And I mean, this was based off of female veteran testimonials.
So it really is geared more towards that.
But I think it reaches even more than just female veterans, veterans in general.
And I think a lot of people can, yeah, would appreciate to hear some of these songs.
All right.
This song is called Sacrifice Ignored.
I got testimonials from five different female veterans.
And the theme on all of their testimonials was that they felt like after their service,
some people disrespected what they had done and maybe didn't give them the accolades that
they deserved.
So it's called Sacrifice Ignored.
And so on that afternoon, I was headed out of the grocery store.
I bought some food from the family I love and adore.
I'm smiling away because I was catching up on those memories I missed while I was out
walking.
When a middle aged man walked my way and I pointed out to stick on the back of my
car.
And he looked me in the eyes and said, man, I want to thank your husband for his service
and it's time.
Oh, not again, he ain't seen a soldier like me, oh, it was my sacrifice, yeah, it was
my sacrifice.
Sacrifice Ignored, hey, it was my sacrifice, my sacrifice, no one, all in my grim
began to fade and I tried to explain that, no, it wasn't my husband.
And the man's grin grew larger as he guessed it was my brother, on my uncle, on my father.
Well, patience came over me and I told him it was me and I was proud to say I served
my country.
Oh, and the grim began to fade and he looked the other way confused by the truth of my
story.
Well, he ain't seen a soldier like me, maybe he didn't want to believe, oh, it was
my sacrifice, yeah, it was my sacrifice, no one, all in my grim, it was my sacrifice.
My sacrifice, no one, all in inside my head, I thought, oh, no, not again, but the man
gave me one more surprise.
He apologized and said, thank you for your time and then he turned and he walked away.
In the groceries that I held, grew heavy and I felt like my sacrifice wasn't known.
And I want to how many more of fighting this new war in the country that you may sacrifice
for.
I guess he ain't seen a soldier like me, why is it so hard for people to see, oh, yeah,
it was my sacrifice, hey, it was my sacrifice, no, hey, it was my sacrifice, my sacrifice,
no one, all in my grim, it was my sacrifice, my sacrifice, no, hey, it was my sacrifice,
my sacrifice, my sacrifice, my sacrifice, my sacrifice won't be ignored, wow.
I got to ask you, the songwriting process then, you get these testimonials and five of them,
you write one song from these five testimonials, how in the world did you pull that together
with that, I mean that song is incredible, thank you so much.
So I read five of them and I saw this common theme right in what was going on and a lot
of it was taken from one of them mainly about this story and she went to the grocery store
and I embellished, you know, try to make this story, you know, just flow a little better but,
you know, she just said she went to the grocery store and she had a sticker on the back of her car
and the middle age man came out and said, hey, you know, I just want to thank your husband,
you know, and she just said and she wrote and then in line she said, I felt like my sacrifice
was ignored and I was like, that's the song, in part of the songwriting about their perspective,
it was based off of all the other testimonials. So kind of the idea of the story,
you know, came from her testimonial that actually happening to her and then the perspective of
talking about it in the song of talking about how they felt came kind of from just what the
women were writing about, how they felt when things like that have happened to them.
Have they heard the song?
Yeah, so they sent them out to the people that got testimonials and like didn't get much feedback
but they liked it and they put it on the first track for the album. So I don't know,
I should we kick off the album. Yeah, oh wow. Yeah, I was really honored though to be able to
to write this and I hope I I hope that I did it justice, you know, because that topic is
I've never experienced that because I'm not a veteran but I hope I, you know, relayed that message
and was able to be their voice and music the best I the best I could. I was just so honored
to be asked to use how cool, right? Like, you know, to take someone's story and then
to turn it into something. So it's yeah, it was I was really honored to to do that.
You can find more music written with and for veterans at warriorsongs.org.
Thank you for being a part of New WISCO Weekend and our veterans day issue. New WISCO Weekend is
produced and written by Terry Barnley Sahale. Our executive producer is Todd Michaels featuring
stories by Conrad Krieger, Brittany Merlot, Melissa K, Pete Schwabba and commentator Amanda Nimmer.
This week we had special appearances by John Mino and Jim Schmidt. I'm civic media
northeast Wisconsin bureau chief Lisa Hale for WISS and WGBW news. Be unstoppable.
