EAGLE BASE, Bosnia and Herzegovina — First Lt. Sarah Kuhaneck and Capt. Nancy Martin have a CD to remind them of the good times during their six-month deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina — a CD they recorded after many days of sitting together and playing their guitars.

“I associate the music we’ve done with the good times here,” Martin said.

“It’s for fun,” Kuhaneck said, “but it’s also a way of remembering this place.”

The duo, which likes to play folk-rock, is not alone.

For some, it was with a guitar; others chose banjos or drumsticks, playing anything from blue grass and folk, to rock and jazz.

“We actually have a real music community here,” said Staff Sgt. Rik Jackson, a guitar player.

Jackson, 52, is serious about his music, and he found another person who is just as dedicated: Sgt. Orville Thompson, 41. Both are from the 35th Infantry Division.

Jackson pushed some marathon rehearsals — up to four hours a day, and required other musicians who joined them to practice.

“Being here we felt like we played for a number of years, because we really jelled together,” Thompson said.

Jazz influences that drummer Thompson brings to the group have added a great flavor to the group’s soft-rock music, Jackson said.

“I hope when we go home, it doesn’t stop here, but we continue to get better,” Jackson said.

He also hopes to attract more attention to their music by sharing an eight track CD.

“It’s what I live for,” Jackson said. “I believe we have a marketable concept.”

A trio made up of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Don Case, 59; Chief Warrant Officer 4 Finice Matthews, 58; and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joe Dayringer, 59, has brought to Eagle Base the influences they grew up with — banjos and bluegrass music.

The men, all with the 35th Infantry Division, put their musical talents together after they heard of one another by word of mouth.

The music produced by banjo players Matthews and Dayringer, and guitarist Case was a nice surprise for 1st Sgt. Ron Crump.

“I never thought I’d find it here,” said Crump.

“It’s just an extemporaneous thing that musicians do,” Case said. “It’s just to pass time.”

Kuhaneck, 29, of the 312th Postal Company, and Martin, 37, of the 1493rd Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control), with Task Force Med Eagle, discovered they both like to play guitar when they roomed together at Ft. Stewart, Ga., during deployment preparations.

Worried about taking their instruments to Bosnia because of luggage restrictions, they left their guitars at home. But after arriving at Eagle Base, they wanted to play.

“It became essential to buy guitars and have them sent here,” Martin said.

Kuhaneck’s guitar served more than one purpose.

“I’ve never been much of a journaler, so this is my own way of doing it,” she said, pointing out her writings on the instrument.

After suggestions from soldiers to record some of their original songs that take a humorous approach to the deployment, the duo enlisted the help of Sgt. 1st Class Brian Stribling, a broadcaster with the 343rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.

With Stribling’s video camera and a couple of microphones, Angry Armed Women and Friends recorded its first CD.

Kuhaneck and Martin aren’t really angry; they find a release from everyday job stress in their music, Martin explained.

“Eagle Base is the kind of place where your life is what you make of it,” she added.

“How many people go on a deployment and cut an album?”

Beyond answering requests to share their CD, Kuhaneck and Martin do not have musical ambitions.

“We couldn’t in good conscience ask people for money [for the CD],” Martin said. “I’m not quitting my day job.”

“Neither of us will,” added Kuhaneck.

“People got a little bit of music and laughed a lot, and I think that’s a contribution,” Martin said.

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