Let's take a break from all that controversy about compensation claims for soldiers claiming hearing damage from the firing range. Let us delight just for now on the sweet sounds our soldiers also make.
The full-blooded strains of army massed bands is an exhilarating and uplifting sound. The wine-rich full bodied brass and the disciplined and skilful musicianship of the bandsmen and today bandswomen.
Yet to think that the rainbow coalition Government was contemplating in such Philistine fashion to reduce the bands, cutting their numbers from four to two, thus dispersing gifted instrumentalists who had, down the years, given pleasure to so many and are still doing so today.
The musicians had a right to fear for the future. Members who took early voluntary redundancy were not replaced in the Army School of Music while numbers dropped from 193 to 158 in 18 months.
Despite an assurance by the then Minister for Defence, Sean Barrett, that the bands would not be merged, there was still unease until the new Minister, David Andrews came along and stated quite categorically that the bands would continue to operate as before.
The Exchequer could have made savings in wages, but the bands are indelibly stamped in the yearly social round of urban and rural life. They can be seen and heard at social gatherings from Malin Head to Mizen Head and they are a familiar sight at agricultural shows, horse shows, festivals, State and civic engagements.
The first Army band I experienced was the Army Number One Band as a boy in my native town of Carndonagh in the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal. It was like the circus coming to town back in the late Fifties and early Sixties. We had a special interest in the band then as it was under the baton of Captain James Gerald Doherty (Sadler), a native of the town.
We were proud that one of our own had reached such prominence and, obviously influenced by him, another native son of the town, Tony Doherty (Jack), who played the cornet in the local St Macartan's Brass and Reed Band joined the Army School of Music.
As an aside, it should be told that we are also proud of the fact that the mother of our former President, Mrs Robinson was also a Carndonagh woman, from Bridge Street where the family had a drapery and pub business.
From the early days army bands and brass bands held a fascination for me and I had visions of becoming a trumpet player appearing at the likes of the London Palladium and touring the world. I was a brilliant trumpet player - I could purse my lips in such a way as to create the velvet tones of Eddie Calvert's golden trumpets and the sound of "O My Papa" wafted through the house and up on to the snow-clad Slieve Snacht.
The Number One Army Band is based at Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin, with the band of the Southern Command in Collins Barracks, Cork, the other two are made up of the Band of the Curragh Command and the Band of the Western Command.
Supplementing the bands are the Pipes and Drums of the Defence Forces, who when joined with the massed bands as they were in the University Concert Hall in Limerick, produce a magnificent unique sound which made for a very moving audience experience. The versatility of these musicians can see them switch from Richard Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries", to Rod Stewart's "Sailing" and Ron Goodwin's "633 Squadron" and the South American flavoured "Mambo Jambo".
The Number One Band has its own Big Band where they range from pop to jazz and the Glen Millar sound - all good professional musicians. Throw in talented conductors like Captain Mark Armstrong, for example, a keyboard player and arranger, and there is the makings of a magical musical mix.
The Army Number One Band holds a dual distinction as the senior musical formation in the Defence Forces and is also the largest established professional ensemble in the State formed in 1923. Like its sister bands, it is a concert band comprising woodwind, brass and percussion with a complement of 40 instrumentalists.
The Band of the Southern Command was established in 1925 at Beggar's Bush Barracks in Dublin when it was called the Number Two Army Band. The following year it was transferred to Cork.
A nation needs its music and the Army bands provide a necessary community service which should not be counted in money terms. Music after all is the food of life.