I have been extremely fortunate to have outstanding mentors throughout my life, but sometimes you forget or place aside thoughts of how important an individual may be to you. COL Finley Hamilton was a man that has impacted my life in many ways. He had a direct impact on hiring me  and pushed me to become a Warrant Officer. He was even in the audience when I graduated the Army Bandmaster Course.  COL Hamilton hated early mornings but loved the Army and making music. I loved finding out old stories from him about his past  teaching experiences and writing drumline music. I even had him pop out a few perididdles on command in a dressing room in Wisconsin. He still had it and we had a great laugh. He was a recognized leader in our musical field and earned everything from an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater, Eastern Kentucky, to being named a Kentucky Colonel and Admiral in his beloved homestate of Kentucky.  COL FInley Hamilton passed away in 2007 from a tough bought with cancer but he had a true passion to serve the country as a Soldier. He lives through me today in all that I do.

This week, I had the proud honor of presenting my 9th Army "Arctic Warrior " Band Soldier SSG Robert Leatherbee with one of the twelve first-time-ever-awarded COL FInley Hamilton Outstanding Military Musician Award's. The award was presented by the National Band Association in conjunction with the John Philip Sousa Foundation. The recipients of this distinguished award exhibit outstanding musical and leadership excellence.  SSG Leatherbee embodies everything great about COLHamilton and is truly the future of our Army and the Military band program. It is nice to know that COL Hamilton will live on through SSG Leatherbee's excellence as well.

Please go to this link to find out more about COL Hamilton, this great award, and the other Outstanding Military Musician Awardees:

http://bands.army.mil/hamiltonaward/default.asp?i=hamilton

Above, one of the first-ever COL FInley Hamilton Outstanding Military Musician Award recipients, SSG Robert Leatherbee, performing trumpet last October at a Memorial in Sitka, AK and with the 9th Army Band's Denali Brass Quintet.

Until next time...Arctic Warrior, Arctic Tough

CW2 Jeff Price