Songwriting: A Weapon of Choice

For the past decade, a treatment other than a copious amount of antidepressants and anxiety pills has been sought for returning soldiers. This treatment lies in musical expression, and it is working.

Songwriters Darden Smith and Radney Foster are working side by side with veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder by helping them write, compose and record the music that they make during their stay at the Texas retreat.

Smith has released over 12 country albums since the 1980s, and Radney has created hits for himself along with stars like Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks.

More and more fathers and husbands are coming home with battle scars as well as emotional scars. With feelings of severe depression, anger and anxiety, veterans don't have an outlet other than alcohol. What Smith and Foster are doing is saving lives. 

Sgt. Josh Hartman, a soldier whose vehicle ran over an IED in Baghdad, has found comfort in writing and recording songs about his traumatic experiences during his two tours of duty in Iraq. The finished product, "The Soldier Game," was the first of ten tracks recorded alongside fellow soldiers Staff Sgt. EJ Obregon and Sgt. First Class Scott McRae that weekend. 

"To take those things we were talking about and all of a sudden, it's music, that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. That's the best therapy I've had since I've been home," says Obregon.

The story and mission of Smith and Foster's retreat deserves to be Spin's spotlight article, the very first story the site's viewers see. Readers are usually welcomed by some underground, hipster indie artist trying to make it to the radio waves, ultimately ending the whole hipster image. The point is, however, that music publications must sometimes put artist profiles on the back burner for musicians making a difference.

Radney Foster embraces Staff Sgt. EJ Obregon

I applaud Spin for its in-depth coverage of a music retreat literally saving the lives of veterans. The personal and graphic stories told by the soldiers featured in David Peisner's article give readers a sense of how skewed reality is for soldiers returning home with PTSD and a lot more baggage than they originally left with.