Hudson Valley based Army National Guard band will perform at Independence Day reception in Israel

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Soldiers assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division Band's rock ensemble perform at a December 2022 social function.

CAMP SMITH, CORTLANDT MANOR, NEW YORK (06/26/2023) (readMedia)-- Nine members of the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division band, which is based at Camp Smith in Cortlandt Manor, will be the featured entertainment for an Independence Day reception being held by the American Ambassador to Israel in Jerusalem on July 3.

The Soldiers – eight musicians and a sound engineer-are one of several musical performance teams, known as MPTs in band-speak, which perform independently of the 40-Soldier concert band.

The ensemble performs classic rock and pop tunes.

The reception is being held by U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides at the Israel Museum, Israel's most important archeological museum.

"Most of our songs are pretty much classic American pop tunes," said Staff Sgt. Drew Gansz, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the rock band MPT.

"We will be performing iconic tunes from artists ranging from Elton John to Bruno Mars," Gansz said.

And they are ready to do requests as well.

"We're essentially a wedding band," Gansz joked. Their goal is for people to have fun, he explained.

The ensemble's been told to expect American military personnel, U.S. and Israeli government officials, members of Congress and perhaps even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gansz said.

The ensembles members said they are excited about their musical mission.

"I feel grateful that the 42nd Division Band was invited to perform overseas," said Sgt. Mallorie Meyer, a French horn player and singer, and music teacher in civilian life. "Experiences like this are a huge reason why I chose to join and continue to serve," she added.

1st Sgt. Leslie Saroka, a clarinet player and the 42nd Band's senior enlisted leader who deployed with the band to Iraq in 2005, said he was looking forward to visiting another country and experiencing another culture.

"This is a great honor to be able to provide music in this setting," Saroka said.

The New York National Guard was asked to provide a band for the embassy event because the New York National Guard has a bi-lateral training relationship with Israel's Homefront Command, according to Maj. David Myones, who coordinates training events with Israel.

The band's annual training event – a week of rehearsals and a week of playing weeklong performance tour across New York-was already scheduled for that period, he said. And the New York Air National Guard's 105th Airlift Wing was able to provide transport on board on of the wing's C-17 Globemaster III transports.

So, while most of the band plays concerts in Seneca Falls, Lewiston and Tonawanda, Gansz and his ensemble will travel to Israel and perform there.

Bands have a long history in the military.

Bands played music to help soldiers march in step when heading into battle, and to keep their morale up. When the battle started, musicians turned into stretcher bears, bringing the wounded to medical stations.

The 42nd Infantry Division band traces its history back to World War I when the division formed from National Guard units of 26 states. That was when it earned it's "Rainbow" nickname because the division reached across the United States like a rainbow, according to its chief of staff, Douglas MacArthur.

During World War II, the band followed the combat troops of the division as they captured the German cities of Wurzburg and Schweinfurt, and liberated the Dachau concentration camp.

In 2004 and 2005 when the division headquarters deployed to Iraq, the band played in dining facilities across north central Iraq to raise morale and performed at events with Iraqi officials. And when they weren't playing, band members checked passes at the division main headquarters as a security element.

The rock band learned about the mission in mid-April, Gansz said, and they have been getting ready by rehearsing and deciding what they will play. They have 28 songs they plan to play and 40 they can pull out if asked, he said.

His musicians are a talented group, Gansz said.

Almost all of them have a bachelor's or master's degree in music, two are high school band directors, and everyone else teaches and performs privately in their local music scenes.