While the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for everyone, a large demographic of veterans may still be suffering in the shadows. To bring awareness, and to offer support to the local veteran community, a pair of Orange County-based nonprofits – Irvine’s Orange County Music & Dance and the Long Beach-based Rock For Vets – are working to create a music platform for veterans, to play, interact and most importantly, have fun.

Starting in April, OCMD and Rock For Vets will be hosting free COVID-safe jam sessions inside the Orange County Great Park in Irvine – and may even potentially be able to hold live performances.

Doug Freeman, CEO of OCMD explained that while the Irvine-based facility is not large enough to accommodate dozens of veterans each week, the program has secured space at the Great Park.

“We made an arrangement with the Great Park. All the neighborhoods have their own clubhouse,” Freeman explained. “We need a place to put our vets – all this is free, and then we decided, if you already play but you just want to gig – we’re going to have jam nights three days a week.”

In addition to providing free lessons, or regular jam sessions each week, Freeman explained that for those that want to play live, the program will be compiling bands for live performances.

“We’re going to build these bands, and every band will have a professional music coach. Don’t have an instrument? Don’t worry, I’ll get you an instrument. Don’t have a car? Don’t worry, I’ll Uber you to the park,” Freeman explained. “And back.”

Over the past year, OCMD has demonstrated the great lengths to which the nonprofit has adapted to the challenges of the pandemic. Freeman said while establishing new, innovative ways to allow kids across Orange County to play live music, dance and be creative together, he is thrilled to be able to give back to veterans in a way that provides both education and camaraderie.

Freeman, who is a veteran himself, said he understood the lasting impacts that isolation and quarantine brought to many veterans, adding that music has become a powerful tool for both children and adults.

“There’s another group of people that are going to be hit hard for the isolations that are going to be imposed – and those are vets,” Freeman said in an interview with Irvine Weekly. “These guys have to hang together, now they can’t. So we decided we would create a program which would help them get out of the house – and that was music.”

Frank McIlquham, founder of the Long Beach-based Rock For Vets, said he started the music-based education program more than a decade ago because he believes the power of music is healing. McIlquham says more than 250 veterans have come through the nonprofit. Through his experience, McIlquham said music has become a tool for many veterans struggling with communication and socialization after returning from battle.

(Rock For Vets)

“Music is the great catalyst for your mind – for any ailment – and even if you don’t have an ailment, it’s a great way to let off some steam and try something new,” McIlquham explained. “And you don’t have to be a musician to be part of this. You have to have the want and the drive to learn – and they’ll teach you.”

Army Staff Sergeant and Iraq war veteran Jimmy Perez is a glowing example of this harmonious method of rehabilitation.

Perez is a 12-year Army veteran, who was deployed to Iraq in 2010. He said his mission in Iraq lasted 400 days. However, Perez says after he returned home, he began to suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Coming back from war, I had a delayed reaction to my emotions of what I thought I was feeling over there. Because my adrenaline was so high – I was really adamant about taking care of the troops,” Perez explained in an interview with Irvine Weekly. “There were times where I had to take care of a few troops that were in bad situations, but more so, I showed no fear. But coming back, it was like a snowball effect of frustration, anxiety, PTSD and anger management issues and thoughts of suicide.”

Perez said he felt hopeless. Things got worse for Perez and his wife, who experienced a stillborn birth – an experience Perez attached an intense amount of his internal anguish onto and still does to this day.

“We both suffered a loss – our baby, four months, stillborn,” Perez explained. “We named our child – I named her Jasmine. We had a future for her, and it was our only opportunity. For me, that’s when I started having suicidal thoughts and I was in such a dark place because I felt like there was no way out for me.”

Perez admits he had to rely on his military training to keep moving forward, but said he did not understand how to control or ignore the emotions of anger, sadness and despair. With that training, he said, comes a sense of pride. Perez said he thinks it is the pride many veterans feel, that prevents them from seeking help.

Fortunately for Perez, he sought help at the veterans hospital in Long Beach. Then, one day at the veterans hospital, Perez said something shifted in his mind when he noticed a baby grand piano during one of his visits.

After picking up a small keyboard, Perez explained that he learned he could play by ear. Perez has now been playing the same baby grand for the last five years.

“I wasn’t sure piano was going to be it. So, it dawned on me, when veterans would actually stop me – and literally give me a hug, and thank me with teary eyes” he said. “Because they felt my pain in the piano.”

Freeman says he is all too familiar with stories like Perez’s and he said he wants other people to experience the enjoyment Perez feels when playing.

“I need the piano with me,” Perez said. “For me, I put all my emotions, all the good, all the bad and all the ugly parts into the piano, and once I’m done it stays there. Even the good stuff. For me, the piano is like a soul string to my heart that I can’t cut.”

For now, Freeman said OCMD and Rock For Vets will be meeting in April, and are looking forward to jamming out.

“What we do is we give our veterans an avenue to have a place where they feel safe, and they’re interacting with others who are also making them feel safe,” he explained. “We’re providing the instruments for them, so all they have to do is show up and have a good time.”

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