(L-R) Greg Loman, Timothy Donley and Nate Kalwicki perform in front of Cindy Ross and Todd Gladfelter's cabin. PHOTOS BY DAVE McKEOWN
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on August 22, 2021
NEW RINGGOLD - On Christmas Eve 2011, Army infantryman Nate Kalwicki was stationed in the Farah (meaning “happiness”) province of Afghanistan. A metalhead from Buffalo, N.Y. who dropped out of college, his parents gave him an ultimatum; get a job or join the Army. Kalwicki thought the Army would be an adventure. His mission was to train the Afghan National Army (ANA). That fateful Christmas Eve, an ANA soldier went rogue and shot Kalwicki multiple times, including once in the lungs. In the military, they call it “green on blue.”
“It wasn’t all bad,” said Kalwicki, who now lives in Myerstown. “The level of bonding that you can have with the other guys in your unit, you’re in very intense situations regularly where you count on other people. If they don’t do the right thing, it can be your life.”
Kalwicki woke up in Walter Reed National Medical Center to find his right leg missing. During the three months he spent recovering there, he met Greg Loman, a musician who was teaching veterans at Walter Reed how to play instruments in the hope that it would improve their lives. Also recovering at Walter Reed was Timothy Donley, a Marine and amateur musician who lost both legs and a section of his right arm in an IED explosion in Afghanistan.
“It was kind of like getting dipped in fire,” Donley said about the pain. “You’re in shock, you’re pretty messed up.”
Timothy Donley
The three men founded a rock band, the Resilient, which had a concert at the New Ringgold home of author Cindy Ross Friday night. Ross’ nonprofit, River House PA, organizes activities in nature for veterans. The fourth band member, drummer and triple amputee Juan “Dom” Dominguez, couldn’t make it to the concert due to a shoulder injury. As they performed, images of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and the subsequent Taliban takeover, played on television and cell phone screens across the world. Years after his injury, Kalwicki has come to believe that the war in Afghanistan was “not meaningless.”
“It goes back to the reason why we were there in the first place,” he said. “It was fundamentally to keep evil at bay. I don’t know at what point that the nation-building idea came in, but that whole strategy has gotten messed up.”
“There’s always a cost,” Donley said. “If you want to do something that means something, there’s a cost. There are men who came back uninjured, but saw their buddies get killed. With that kind of evil, it’s worth it.”
Donley refers to the loss of his legs as an “occupational hazard.”
“I think we made a difference for a time,” he said. “While we were there, we helped the people to get freedom from the oppression of the Taliban. As nice as it would be to never have war, I think that there are good reasons to go to war, as long as your priorities are straight. Watching the current state of the country these last two weeks, the people are afraid, and they’re rising up in different ways against the Taliban.”
“It was political,” Kalwicki said. “That was the reason they pulled out when they did. It was a political move.”
“We should’ve been more careful about it,” Donley said. “Mistakes were made. We broke our word, and we didn’t follow through with what we should have.”
The Resilient’s music is about the trauma the band members experienced, their inner conflicts and their hope for the future.
“You can definitely see some of the scars, but everybody has scars in some way,” said Donley, who now lives in Bethel. “Ours are a little more visible.”
“Whether we like it or not,” Kalwicki said, “people notice us. Instead of being negative about it, try to influence people positively.”
“I know guys who committed suicide because they felt broken, disconnected, that it wasn’t worth it,” Donley said. “We can smile, we can write music, we can encourage, and sometimes that can make all the difference.”
Donley spent three years recovering at Walter Reed. The injuries to his arm made playing the guitar not only much more difficult, but caused excruciating pain that took years of therapy to subside. The explosion also caused a traumatic brain injury that made it much harder for him to remember song lyrics like he used to. Recovery was not easy, but Donley said there were “blessings in disguise,” including meeting his wife Kelly and the men that would become his bandmates.
“There’s always good there, if you’re willing to look for it,” Donley said.
Loman was born in Bordeaux, France. The only civilian member of the band, his grandfather was a World War II veteran who liberated French villages. He has Nazi weapons, taken as trophies, in his home.
“I’m one-quarter American,” he said. “That quarter is a war hero.”
Greg Loman
Loman didn’t teach Donley to play the guitar - he taught him what it takes to be in a band and work well with other musicians.
“We can be separated for six months, meet for one day and put on a show,” Donley said. “We’re all really tight.”
In 2012, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters came to Walter Reed. He not only wanted to meet the veterans, but recruit some to perform with him in a benefit concert. Donley, Loman and Kalwicki all performed with Waters at the Beacon Theatre in New York, then with Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Eventually, they realized that they could start their own band. They played at the Grand Ole Opry and appeared on the TV shows “The Colbert Report” and “NCIS.”
“That was nice,” Donley said, “‘cause my dad loves that show.”
“It’s a rush,” Loman said, “because you get texts and calls from friends and loved ones and stuff. It’s amazing how quickly it goes away. Two days later, everybody’s forgotten.”
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