Second Job of Bob - Rock Band

My second job was during my junior year in high school.  In 1973 I hooked up with some classmates to join their rock band as their saxophonist.  They were all excited.  Bands had had the sax in the rock music since the 1950s.  The 1970s were no different.  There were five of us.  Like any band the members changed from time to time.  Sometimes they had six members.  I worked with them throughout the school year.  We made 25 dollars each per gig.  That was a big deal in 1973.

 It taught me about being where you are suppose to be when the time is agreed.  Event coordinators have no sense of humor for late entertainers.  Nor do the guests.  I remember being pulled over after a gig one night because my Fairlane had a burned out head light.  I was 17 and there was a curfew in that Wisconsin town and it was after midnight.  My quick response surprised even me when I pointed to the sax case in the back seat and said, "I just got off work - wedding dance."  The cop did not even bat an eye and just gave me an equipment warning. 

I quit the band because the sporadic event times drove me nuts.  I suppose if I had applied myself, I could have been a better sax player and perhaps expanded on the fledgling career.  Girls, cars, the farm, football, and then finally the Army got in the way of ever taking the sax beyond high school.  I look at it once in a while.  It still sits in its case in my make-shift library down in the basement.  So many things have been lost, stolen, forgotten, but it still got moved around the country for a life time.  My parents had bought it used on top of that.  Here's to a path never taken.  Maybe in the next life. 
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic.  He spent 22 years in the Army Reserve.  Gabrielson was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth.  He  worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of keeping the bridge building equipment working under very difficult conditions.  Sgt. Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin serviceman to die in Iraq and the first reservist from the state killed there.  Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer.  He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant 1st class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq.  Sergent Gabrielson was killed on July 9, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.

   3,334 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.

   71 Wisconsin Soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003. 
Soldier of the week and military casualty information sources: cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.