in a crowd of 547, the soldiers made up 312 of them. that's more guys in uniform than civilians. these guys were all in the middle of basic training, and the night was their first off base in several weeks. they ran a couple of minutes late, so i held the show for them. there's nothing quite as distracting as 300 people showing up in the middle of the show! it's a good thing i did too, because as soon as they started walking in, the rest of the crowd was on its feet cheering. after they were all in, we started the show, and when the emcee acknowledged them, they stood in unison and recited the soldiers creed. and not another single person spoke or made any noise through the whole thing. it was just that impressive.
the soldiers sat through our first acts with very polite cheering. at intermission, the soldiers got to go through their own, separate concession stand where they were able to get their first refined sugar since they entered basic training a few weeks earlier. that sugar, combined with some rock from rush of fools had the soldiers looking like this
unfortunately, since they were still in basic training, the soldiers had a curfew of 10:30pm, which meant they had to leave the show a little bit early. during intermission, i was talking with the chaplain, when a private stopped and requested to speak with him. when the chaplain asked him if his matter was urgent the private replied "actually sir, my battle buddy was hoping to request a song." well that's when i stepped in. i asked what song he was hoping for, and he told me "awesome God." that's definitely not part of our set, but the chaplain explained to me that it was the soldiers favorite, and they do it almost every sunday at chapel. i figured playing their favorite song would be a great way to acknowledge them, make them feel like a big part of the show, and put the focus on them so that when they got up to leave, it wasn't as big a distraction. i went and told the band, only to find out that they didn't know it, but they told me to remind them after a certain song in the set. when the time came, i shouted a reminder in their ears. since they didn't know it as a band, wes just started the chorus accapella. as soon as he did, the soldier were on their feet singing along and after the line "he reigns", the soldiers shouted "HE REIGNS" army style. after two times through the chorus, wes pointed at the soldiers and they took a time through the chorus by themselves. i'm not sure about the rest of the crowd, but i was moved almost to the point of tears. it was one of the moments that keeps me doing what i do. it was truly a great night.
