larry: this is armed forces week, and to honor those who are serving and have served this country, we welcome the 4troops quartet, who released their self-titled album this week. bonded by their military ties and love of music, they are former captain meredith melcher, she was a platoon leader in iraq. former sergeant daniel jens deployed to iraq as a crew member with the field artillery canon. he placed 11th on the season three of nbc s america s got talent. staff sergeant ron henry. recently retired after a 20-year career. and former sergeant david clemo, initially deployed in afghanistan after 9/11. and then to iraq, where he laid fiber-optic cables. meredith, how did this group come together. well, we actually knew one man who we had worked with at various points in our military music careers, and you know when
we re doing the a lot of pbs specials. we re doing stadiums like jacksonville. we re doing norfolk, virginia. we re doing some detroit, michigan. so we re so elated to be able to be a part of this and to just give back and show that we re supporting our service members and their families. larry: david, what kind of orchestra backing you? well, right now it s just us and the tracks. when we go on tour, we re discussing if we want to have a live band with us or not. so that s still in the works. larry: meredith, are you proud of your service in iraq. oh, yes. i mean, it s something that you know we ve all shared, we ve all done, and you know, it s interesting because we ve gotten such a good response from the military community. because since we ve been there, we sing these these lyrics with an authenticity that you might not find otherwise so it s really you know, we re honored.
who did america s got talent. we presented ourselves to sony, and it it has been such a rewarding experience. we re doing things that we never thought that we would do. larry: david, are you are you enjoying this new life? yes. it s totally overwhelming and the response that we get from service members as well as the general public has been nothing but positive. and so we re just really happy to be here and trying to grasp it as we go. larry: what kind of songs are on the album, meredith? oh, larry, any anyone and everybody can listen to this album. because it has pop music on it, country music, r&b, rock, patriotic. we wanted to touch on personal relationships between service members and families as well as touching on the patriotism so you ll find everything on this album. it s for everyone. larry: give me a little example. acapella. give me like 30 seconds. pick any tune that you want. okay we ll do a song called
in common they are all talented singers. they ve come together to entertain their fellow soldiers the men and women of the united states military. they are doing with it patriotic songs that uplift and entertain. they call themselves four troops. staff sergeant retired ron her . former captain meredith melcher and former sgt. david clemo. thank you. you saw some of the worst things that people ever see when were you inafter and iraq. tell me, how did music play a role in helping you through those moments when were you in combat? how did that help bring equilibrium to your lives? music helps to evoke emotions out of people. it has the ability to take you out of that high stressed entertainment stressed environment, kind of leaves