How I joined the military

How I joined the Air Force Band

I come from a military family, because my father was a career military man of twenty four years and growing up in the Mclaurine household was like being in bootcamp. We had to always make sure that my father’s shoes were shined and whatever work needed to be done around the house we had to be on it. My father also was an excellent cook and we always had to be ready to cut up carrots, potatoes, onions and whatever else needed to be diced up for the evening supper. So joining the military would not be such a big deal, because I was used to following orders.

At the time I was living in Omaha, Nebraska, the place of my birth. Although, I was not raised there. Our family always had to move every three or four years. because of my father's unique position of being a general’s aid and so wherever the general was relocated we had to make the same move, which sort of prepared me for the life of a musician.

Prior to getting into the military I had spent a couple of years in Los Angeles and had the good fortune to work with some excellent musicians. One musician in particular was Horace Tabscott, who was a prolific Jazz pianist and arranger. His big band was the Sun Ra of the west coast called the Pan African People’s Arkerstra. I also had the opportunity to perform with the young piano prodigy, Billy Childs when he was sixteen years old.

I was literally living out of my Volkswagen bus at one point and going to LACC (Los Angeles City College) at the same time. Eventually, I had to throw the towel in and return back to Omaha, as much as I did not want to, because I could no longer sustain myself financially.

While in Omaha I had exhausted all of the musical opportunities and finally came to the conclusion that I would have to make a drastic move to better my musical career. I knew that I would have to get out of Omaha and my best option at the time would be to audition for the Air Force band. Luckily for me there was a band located at Offutt Air Force base located in South Omaha. I finally built up enough courage to go to the recruiting office in downtown Omaha. I remember the day distinctly as being a beautiful sunny day and I remember walking around the block several times trying to gather enough courage to actually go inside and plunge into a new life choice. Once inside I spoke to the recruiter and he scheduled me for an aptitude test, so they would be able to determine where they could place me. After taking the test they informed me that I had done quite well and that if I wanted I could go into a position in pharmacy.  At that time I had no interest in going into the field of pharmacy, but in hindsight it probably wouldn’t have been a bad idea.

I remember speaking with one of the recruiters and I told him that I was interested in getting into the band. He told me that he could set up an audition for me, which could be set up in about a week. A week had gone by and I remembered being awakened by this knocking on the door. I said to myself “ who could this be  waking me up so early”. Lo and behold when I opened the door I was confronted with the recruiter who I had seen a week earlier. He said “ Are you ready to go”  and I said “ Go where?" He reminded me that this was the day of the audition for the Air Force band that he had scheduled for me and that we had to leave right away. I was in total disbelief, because I had totally forgotten about this audition. So I begrudgingly tried to get myself together to go out to Offutt Air Force base, so that I could fail this audition and come back home .

We finally arrived at the band headquarters on base and we met up with the military band personel in charge of the audition. The audition consisted of a series of musical charts to sight read. The charts were of many different styles, which let them determine my sight reading ability. They finally informed me that the audition was over and that they would get back to me in a few minutes. While waiting for their decision I could only think of one thing and that was that I can’t wait to get back home. To my surprise they informed me that I had passed the audition and as you can imagine I was completely stunned, because I had not expected to pass the audition. They asked me where would I like to be stationed. Everything seemed to be moving very fast and I could not really focus on what was really happening.

They informed me that there was an opening at Wright Paterson Air Force Base in Ohio, but I thought to myself I might as well stay in Omaha rather than go to Ohio. I let them know that I was not interested in going there, but as fate would have it they discovered an opening for a bassist in New Jersey, at McGuire Air Force Base.This base was about an hour and half from New York City, which would be and ideal location for me. I now would be located near the music capitol of the world. I told them that McGuire would be a suitable location for me and in a very short time all the paperwork was put in order and I now would be Jersey bound in a couple of months. As a footnote I was familiar with McGuire A.F.B., because that was where my family departed from when we moved to Germany in 1965. My next stop would be basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The recruiters had set me up with a delayed enlistment plan, which meant that I would not have to arrive to basic training until a month from my official sign up date. This gave me time to prepare myself physically for basic training. I would run at least three miles every morning and had a workout routine that included pushups and sit-ups. By the time it was ready for me to leave for Lackland I was in tip top physical condition. All I can say about basic training is it was the longest six weeks of my life and it made me really value being free to come and go as I pleased.

Two weeks before it was time for me to leave for basic training the great pianist, Oscar Peterson had a scheduled concert at the Orpheum theater in downtown Omaha. I made it a point to be at that concert, because it was just what I needed for uplifting my spirit just before being in total confinement in basic training. Mr. Peterson’s first set was absolutely brilliant and on the second set he announced that there would be a special guest who would be joining him. That special guest was Joe Pass, the extraordinary Jazz guitarist of worldwide acclaim. I was on cloud nine to have had the opportunity to witness such an amazing concert and just at the right time.