Taiwan’s air force band boosts morale, patriotism on the front line

Reuters:

TAITUNG, Taiwan, Dec 6 – Taiwan’s air force may be on the front lines of defending against China’s daily incursions into the skies near the democratically governed island, but for downtime and to boost morale they have a secret weapon – their own band.

Started in 2018, the Taiwan air force’s “Tiger Band” is made up of fighter pilots, ground crews and other personnel at the Chihhang air base in Taitung on Taiwan’s mountainous and scenic east coast, singing soft rock ballads with an indigenous twist.

Taiwan’s military helped them produce a slick music video for their biggest hit to date, “Fly into the Sky”. It has only had a modest 14,000 views on YouTube so far but has garnered many comments in support of Taiwan’s armed forces.

“We are soldiers on the front line of attack, so we wanted to create this song to write our feelings towards this country and our will to defend our families into the lyrics,” lead singer Chiang Chung-hao, 34, who trains fighter pilots, told Reuters at the base.