Soldier's Christmas Eve

While many soldiers coming back from deployment have shown their talents by writing books about their experiences, one former Marine, Scott Brown, chose to become a songwriter and a performer. The result is a group, the Scooter Brown Band, that sounds a lot like Jackson Browne with songs that have an Eagles tone to them. The band has just released for the holiday season a very powerful and heart-wrenching song, "Soldier's Christmas Eve," the title of which says it all. American Thinker interviewed Brown about his songs and aspirations. Scott taught himself the guitar while in the Marine Corps reconnaissance unit and after retiring in 2003 decided to form a band where he became the lead singer and songwriter. Many of his songs -- although he emphasized, not all of them -- have lyrical context related to his experiences while in the military. "Soldier's Christmas Eve" was written to remind people that the U.S. is still at war and that there are soldiers still dying to protect American freedoms. He and the band have decided to donate the proceeds to the Lone Survivor Foundation, founded by the former SEAL Marcus Luttrell. Anyone who wants to hear the song and donate can go to the website .

Some of the potent lyrics of the song: When I close my eyes it reminds me of back home

I can see grandma's house all covered in lights

Then the sound of distant gunfire wakes me from my dreams

I betya mommas cooking, daddys watching the game

I guess I would be lying if I didn't say I wish I was doing the same

But that's a choice I made, to fight for our way of life

So all of you back home could live in peace at night

When you're gathered around at night, say a prayer for me

Cause there aint no Silent Night in a Soldier's Christmas Eve Brown is hoping through this song "that as people go on during the holiday season, and with their everyday lives, they will say a prayer for the guys and gals still over there. People cannot forget about us. Think of it this way, our gift is to protect Americans. Those of us who spent Christmas on the front lines do not get anything special, not even a special meal. Missions don't stop because of Christmas." One of his first songs written, "Hell and Texas," refers to the hell he went through while in Iraq compared to the paradise of Texas. He is proud of his state, bragging about how it seems to be doing everything correctly including succeeding economically. American Thinker asked him to comment on the lines in the song: I am so scared I won't wake-up

I am too damn tired to stay awake

I wonder what's in store for me today

I am stuck somewhere between Hell and Texas He explained, "In the reconnaissance unit we were constantly moving. We spent a whole lot of time in the desert, no man's land. We never wanted to go to sleep because we wanted to make sure we saw what was coming at us, like a mortar. You get so tired because you are running missions all day and all night." His next record, "Valor," will include songs that those who fought in the War on Terror can relate to. He told American Thinker, "I write songs to educate people. This is a weird time in our country. I want to give a voice to what the guys and gals over there are thinking and feeling. A lot of military people come out to our shows and tell me how the songs are right on and make a lot of sense. A song is coming, I promise, about the people who make stupid decisions. They have never been in combat, and do not know what we have gone through. They have no idea what war is really like. I call it the 'pussification' of America. Our leaders are making sure everyone is all right except Americans, our own people. I get so frustrated and want to scream out loud because it makes me so mad. It seems that we are the only ones who abide by the Geneva Convention." He is thinking of writing a song about what he calls the Benghazi travesty because he finds it disgusting that Americans as a whole do not demand answers. "We are Americans. We never leave our guys for hours in a firefight to be targets. We run towards the gunfight, not away from it. Our own people seem to have forgotten what this country is about, our core values and beliefs." As Americans celebrate the holidays with cheer and joy they might want to sing around the fireplace or the Christmas tree the words of Scott Brown to remind themselves that there are brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, and children who are fighting in some hellhole to protect our freedoms. The soldiers deployed do not have the comforts of home and can only dream about those special times during a "Soldier's Christmas Eve."