"Yellow Balloon" - Tommy Houston

In July 2014, CreatiVets was honored to take veteran Tommy Houston to Nashville, TN, where he wrote "Yellow Balloon" with professional songwriters Dave Pittenger and Matt McClure. "Yellow Balloon" is a song written for Tommy's daughter, Emily. While Tommy is proud to have served our country, he points out the difficulties of balancing a military career with family life. He wanted to dedicate his song to Emily, to reconnect with her before starting college in the Fall.

 

Tommy began his military career in 1987 when he joined United States Navy.  He was in aviation ordnance( air-crewmen) on P-3 Orion C.  Tommy left the Navy honorably after Desert Shield and Desert Storm and went to college at the University of Montana where he studied English literature. In 1996 he joined the Army and became an infantryman. During his time in the Army, Tommy served as a Machine gunner, fire team leader, squad leader, Platoon Sergeant, training NCO, readiness NCO, and a recruiter. His last tour of duty was as a United Nations training assistance team member where he trained foreign armies to conduct peacekeeping operations for the UN all over the Pacific Rim. Tommy closed out his military career serving as a Reintegration team member and a suicide intervention counselor.

See an interview with Tommy below, followed by an interview with Emily. You can listen to Tommy's song, "Yellow Balloon" at the end of the post.

Interview with Tommy

1. What were your expectations for the songwriting trip to Nashville? Did you already have in mind what kind of song you wanted to create?

"I had no expectations or ideas as to what was going to happen in Nashville. I heard Sean Davis's (previous veteran who participated in the CreatiVets program) song and saw what kind of an impact it had on him and was excited to be a part of that. I had 7.6 million different ideas as to what kind of a song I wanted. What I ended up with was so much better."

2. Please share whatever you feel comfortable with about your time in the Army, your time deployed, and the struggles of raising a family while serving in the military.

"My biggest struggle upon returning home was learning how to be a part of the family again. I've struggled with a lack of emotion on certain issues that my family tends to be emotional about, and there seems to be a quiet ,passive sort of separation or distance between my family and me. The loss of participation in my children's lives while I was gone is something I can't make up. I mourn the loss of it."

3. What did this experience mean to you? Did it allow you to connect with your daughter in a different way?

"The song gave me a chance to tell my daughter, Emily, something I never could quite figure out how to do. I felt as if I was put in a position where even if I had said the words to her face-to-face it didn't have nearly as much impact as the song did, and it definitely brought Emily closer to me again."

Interview with Emily

1. What did you know about your Father's trip to Nashville? Did you have any idea he was creating a piece for you?

"I didn't really know anything about what he was doing in Nashville. I knew he was going there to do something with CreatiVets, but I didn't know much about it, or that the trip had anything to do with me."

2. Please describe how a family must demonstrate strength while a parent serves in the military. What was difficult about having a father who served in the Army?

"When my dad left for Iraq, which was the longest/most important leave he took, I was only about 6. I didn't completely understand what was happening, as I was barely in 1st grade, so it was difficult for me in a different way than for somebody who fully grasped the idea of what their loved what was doing when they left. An older person might worry if the deployed family member has had enough to eat, or sleep, or if they've been shot at that very second they were thinking about them. For me, and most younger kids who have parents or older siblings in the military, you don't even think about those kinds of things. You wonder why they aren't there to make you your bowl of Cheerios in the morning, or why they missed your most important birthday party, or where in the world this 'Iraq' place was that was so far away Dad couldn't come home to say goodnight."

3. What did this song mean to you?

"This song meant a lot to me, because it helped me grow closer to my dad."

Emily adds that she is so proud of her dad for his bravery and for serving our country.

Listen to "Yellow Balloon" Audio:  https://soundcloud.com/#creativets/yellow-balloon

Or Video:

 

"Warrior" - Jonas Ridesatthedoor

Jonas served in the United States Marine Corps, as a 0331 Infantry heavy machine gunner from June 2003 until June 2007. He joined when he was just 18 years old. He served in the tour to Iraq, operating primarily out of Al Anbar Province in western Iraq. Two deployments were with the 2nd Battalion 7th Marine Regime, 1st Marine Division (2/7), and one deployment with the 1st Tank Battalion 1st Marine Division, stationed in Twentynine Palms California.

Meet Jonas C. Ridesatthedoor:

"As of now, I’m 29 years old. I’m Native American, a proud member of the Blackfeet nation, located in Montana. I joined the Marine Corps, and specifically the Infantry to serve, fight, and carry on my heritage; my grandpa was in the 82nd Airborne as a paratrooper, and I have many other family members that have served and fought in every U.S. war since World War II. My great-great grandpa was a Blackfeet war chief, who held the original Ridesatthedoor (Rides At The Door) name, receiving this name for his actions against an enemy while on his horse (Rides At The Door refers to riding a horse at a lodge door).

For my people, and many other Native Americans, we see military service as a continuation of our warrior culture, and the protection of our people and traditional land. I did receive a Purple Heart on July 2nd, 2004, when an IED of stacked artillery rounds exploded a few feet in the front right of the truck while I was up on the gun of the rear truck facing the rear. It sent small to medium size shrapnel into my back, arms, back of the head, side of the face, some of which is still embedded in my body. Blew out both of my ear drums, which still rings to this day. I lost consciousness and experienced a concussion.

4 years of college at the University of Montana in Missoula MT, just need to write a paper and I’m done, double major in Native American studies and political science. I’m considering grad/law school, maybe in a couple years, right now I want to get myself established in what exactly I’m going to do for a career, meaning I want to work. I strongly believe every veteran should use their hard earned education benefits.

I see a lifelong venture in continuing to help people, and stand up for those rights and fight those injustices. I have a 3 year old daughter, Maleah Jane Ridesatthedoor. Married a little over a year, met my wife here in Missoula in 2008. They mean everything to me."

Jonas’s Interview:

How did you find out about CreatiVets?

By Richard Casper (Executive Director) himself.

What did you expect from your trip to Nashville?

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, I had a few scenarios in my head, none of which came true, but regardless, I had a feeling that it was going to be a great experience. I knew Richard Casper would not disappoint.

How do you feel you benefitted from this experience?

I felt it was beneficial in a multitude of ways. An important one is that it lets me tell my story in a unique and artistic way, which I think, more importantly, helps my family and friends better understand what I went through over there. Another important one for me is that I think having my song out there will be beneficial to other veterans, either that it will encourage others to want to tell their story in their own unique ways, or that it will make it a little easier to start opening up to the ones around them. I know when I first got out I avoided telling people what went on in Iraq, even though I thought about it constantly. This whole experience has motivated me to keep writing my memoirs, something I’ve been wanting to do and keep putting off for years now.

Was it easier to open up to the writers having another combat veteran there with you?

It was very helpful, without Richard, I might have held back on some things, he really made the mood right. Combat veterans understand where each other are coming from, when mostly others don’t. Sometimes I find myself really being cautious around people, which I don’t have to be all the time anymore. From the war, I’ve developed trust issues, especially with strangers, it’s something I’m working on.

In your opinion what does CreatiVets offer that other programs for healing don’t?

What sets them apart? Yes, CreatiVets takes a more personal approach with veterans, and is very unique when compared to other veteran healing based companies out there. All veteran healing programs are needed and welcome, but sometimes with programs, the healing doesn’t reach everyone as extensively as it would with Creativets, or it doesn’t have a lasting effect; with my song, it will always be there for generations to come, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling every time I hear it.

Do you feel other veterans would benefit from this opportunity?

Absolutely, I strongly believe every veteran should to tell their story for the benefit of themselves and their loved ones. I know personally, it was very hard for me to talk about my Iraq war experience, and avoided questions about it, I didn’t want to revisit the sad feelings or horrific memories. I wasn’t until after I began to tell my story to people, that I felt a sense of relief from some of the grief I held inside. It’s not good to keep things all bottled up, it will manifest and eat you from the inside.
As I did with Jesse’s trip to Nashville, I wanted to hear about the CreatiVets experience from the wifes perspective.

Meet Maegan Rides At The Door. Her and Jonas have known each other since 2008 and were married on August 25th, 2012.

In what ways have you seen Jonas’s experience with CreatiVets affect him?

Jonas seemed to look forward to this upcoming trip and was even more upbeat in the days before. But I think the most valuable part of it was him being able to tell his story and have his experience validated through a song. There aren’t many instances where Jonas has been able to share his experience on such a large scale. The song itself honored his unique experience and Jonas was very pleased that the writers were able to stay true to his actual experience when converting it into lyrics. After his trip, he continues to play this song on a daily basis. I think this was able to help him not only during the trip and in the days after but that he will now have something he can play during times when he is struggling. In that sense the song has provided another avenue for healing. He was also able to share it with his veteran buddies, family and friends which has also been helpful.

What did you think/feel when you first heard the song he wrote?

I cried the first time I heard it and I didn’t really expect to so it was really impactful. I felt a whole rush of happiness and I mostly thought about his whole experience in the service and how proud I was too, as his wife. There were lot of significant events and he has so much more memories but it did a good job of representing his overall experience.

How do you feel CreatiVets is different from other programs offered to our veterans?

What sets them apart? I was surprised to learn about CreatiVets because there isn’t anything like that in our area for veterans so it was great that this organization was able to reach out to him where we live. I think what sets this organization apart is the validation part of having an organization and writers and an audience of people recognize and hear our veterans stories not just one time but having a song that will be able to be shared forever.

When we asked Maegan to share any additional information, the following is what she wrote:

“It isn’t the easiest job in the world, being married to a combat veteran and I think the general public doesn’t often think of how hard it is for spouses and dependents to live with someone coping with trauma. It takes a lot of understanding, empathy, and patience but there is hope for our veterans. I have seen my husband continue to heal and every year it gets better and better so it is important to continue to support our veterans and their families by providing them with experiences like this.”

Jonas, Maegan, and the life they have created post-war, post-trauma, is further proof that heroes are among us. They don’t wear capes, but they are the men and women who choose to live life after trauma, they are the spouse who supports, they are the people who choose to overcome the obstacles in their way. It’s not that they never fall; it’s that they always get back up.

Listen to "Warrior" on SoundCloud at:  https://soundcloud.com/#creativets/warrior