So as I’m sitting here watching Forrest Gump and the awesome scenes from when Forrest enlisted and went on to Vietnam, it made me think about war soundtracks: Vietnam obviously solidified its soundtrack years ago through the countless movies that have defined it, but what about OEF? What’s our war soundtrack? For those out in SQ Nation that aren’t sure what OEF stands for – Operation Enduring Freedom – it’s the official name to the “War in Afghanistan”. For that matter, OIF could be included as well in this conversation since the two wars completely overlapped. I just posed this very question over in Reddit’s excellent /r/Veterans subreddit, but would love to hear the thoughts of our fellow OEF’ers (and OIF) here at SQ.
OEF Vets: What’s Our War Soundtrack?
For me – I was in Central Helmand with the Corps from late 2010 to summer 2011 – my pre-patrol soundtrack consisted mostly of Seether, Rage Against the Machine, and even some POD (Boom, mostly), although those were just the heavy hitters. So far in the aforementioned Reddit thread, other vets have posted bands like Metallica (excellent choice), Johnny Cash, Rancid, Alice and Chains, Creed and even Mumford & Sons. It’s awesome to hear what others were (or are for those few that are still over in AFG) listening to, and it will be even more interesting to see what the actual soundtracks are for the many Afghan War/OEF films that will get released over the next fifty years, because you know they’re coming – OIF too, and probably in bigger volume.
Drop us your OEF soundtrack below, and join the conversation over at Reddit as well! Thanks for stopping by SQ!