The first high school presentation of the 2009-10 school year was a very memorable one for a couple of reasons. One, is that this presentation was conducted out of my area, and by out of my area I mean on the other side of this great country, in California. Two, my brother SGT Raymond Lucero was with me. Raymond plays the trumpet in the Army Band and just left the 76th Army Band and is now stationed at the mighty 62nd Army Band at Ft. Bliss Texas. Finally, this presentation was at my old high school where I played my audition for an Army Band liaison 9 years earlier. This was the same room my brother also took an audition almost 11 years ago. We were back to tell the young musicians that they could be standing here in 2019 telling young musicians that they can do it too. This was one of my most important goals I have been thinking about ever since I have been in the Army Bands and when I was hired as a band recruiter I knew that it was within reach. Having my brother there was the icing on the cake.

The school year hasn’t officially started yet, band camp was running (yes, we do go to band camp). I told the students about the opportunities and benefits of being in the Army and played a bit of the tuba for them. It being early in the school year I knew that some of the kids would just dismiss all of the information I was putting out and just think about text messaging, but that’s OK. I explained that the Army is not for everyone, but there is one or two of them out there that will really take what I said to heart. Between my brother and I we have visited and been stationed all over the world and have experienced things that your everyday musician right out of high school would not experience. All I can hope is that I set off a spark in some of these young musicians’ minds and they realize that they can do it too.

As we finished for the day we got in the car and drove away from our high school much like we did 11 years earlier when I was a freshman and my brother was a junior in the band. It really goes to show how much can change and at the same time stay the same.