Soldier serves his country
as vocalist with Army band
Robert M. Petillo
As the crowd pours through security barriers and makes its way to its objective between the White House and the Washington Monument, the soldier, adrenaline pumping through his veins, prepares to defend his country. But, for the son of a Freehold woman, it’s not a rifle he’s going to bring to bear on the crowd before him — it’s the sweet sound of patriotic music.
Firmly established in the professions of both arts and arms, Army Master Sgt. Robert M. Petillo, son of Dolores Petillo, of Free-hold, plays a creative role in Washington as a master vocalist with the U.S. Army Band — one of the country’s oldest and most purposeful performing arts institutions.
Essentially, Petillo is part of the house band for the president. The band, known as Pershing’s Own after its creator, Army Gen. John J. Pershing, maintains a tradition of excellence that began in 1922 as the premier musical organization of the Army.
The band is made up of nine ensembles. Petillo and fellow soldiers simultaneously fan out to support military funerals and ceremonies in Arlington National Cemetery, the White House, the Pentagon, the Supreme Court, and each year they play Carnegie Hall in New York City to bring the Army to the nation.
"My music requires preparation — both in private study and group rehearsal," said the 1974 graduate of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. "I specialize in live music solos, and I have performed many times in German, Italian and French, but also in languages like Swedish, Finnish, Croatian, Thai, Hindi, Urdu, Polish and Turkish. I sing in a variety of styles, including classical, opera, folk, pop, spirituals and Broadway."
Visitors to the Army Band facility next to Arlington enter a self-sufficient artistic community for 250 people, with federal recording studios and a private library where military sheet music is pulled for study by streams of uniformed composers, vocalists, musicians, conductors, choreographers and technicians. The creative operations center prepares Petillo to represent the Army image on many of the band’s recordings and 6,000 annual events.
"I constantly hear from the Army command sergeant major and the Army chief of staff how important our music performances are to the morale of our soldiers and the public alike," said Petillo, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College, and a master’s in music and a doctorate in arts from the University of Maryland. "Our training comes from the finest music school in the country, and we receive the ceremonial training we need from the Army. We share our music knowledge with high school and college students through outreach performances and music clinics in high schools."
Being a part of the nation’s definitive military music performance organization separates Petillo from all other soldiers and musicians.
"I am proud to have supported all presidents in office since Reagan in their state receptions and inaugurations. I have performed during national telecasts from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and live performances in the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Lincoln Center in New York City," he said. "I have been a featured vocalist in most Army Chorus recordings since 1986. In 2003, it’s been my privilege to entertain the battlefield commanders of our forces — before they left for Iraq — and work with our personnel who entertained the troops in Afghanistan, Kazakh-stan and Uzbekistan."
And even as a triple bill of threats brings the nation’s military into the spotlight for its efforts on the field of battle in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, Petillo and the rest of Pershing’s Own soldiers continue to aim their music at the hearts of America to bring the nation and its military closer together.
This article was written by John B. Dendy IV, who is assigned to the Army and Air Force Hometown News Service, San Antonio, Texas