Face of Defense: Marine ‘Has the Blues’ in Afghanistan

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By Marine Corps Cpl. Ed GaloRegimental Combat Team 6
FORWARD OPERATING BASE NOLAY,Afghanistan, July 5, 2012 – As they waited in line for breakfast at the fieldmess hall here one recent morning, Marines heard blues music coming from aharmonica.
“They’re out of eggs right now, so I’mgoing to wait out here for them to finish the next batch,” said Marine CorpsCpl. Nathan Karasch, taking a break from his music.
Karasch, with Charlie Company, 1stBattalion, 7th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, has had a longtime passionfor music.
“I played the trumpet in school from thefourth grade,” the Minnesota native said, “and then in high school I picked uppiano, drums and guitar.”
He studied music in college, majored inpercussion and received an associate’s degree.
Karasch said he taught himself how toplay the harmonica on this deployment as a way to pass time, since he doesn’thave his other instruments with him.
“I got it in one of the care packagesfrom my family,” he said. “I picked it up pretty quickly just because I have abackground in music. I wanted to learn how to bend notes just to get thatbluesy sound.” He spent his evenings in the base’s Morale, Welfare andRecreation tent, searching the Internet for harmonica lessons.
Other Marines sometimes ask Karasch toplay songs, and occasionally, he’ll play “The Marines’ Hymn” to lighten themood. But he said he usually just keeps his music to himself.
Though he enjoys playing blues musicwith his harmonica, Karasch said, he doesn’t really listen to blues. He grew uplistening to classic rock.
“I’ve gotten into jazz and metal andevery other type of music under the sun, especially since music school,” hesaid. “But the harmonica sort of has a blues history to it, so it’s really funto try and get a blues song out of it.”
Music even led Karasch to his wife,Ashlee, whom he met at a bandmate’s wedding in January 2009. The keyboardistbrought her as a date and introduced her to Karasch.
“He sort of tried to play matchmaker forus throughout the wedding,” Karasch said. “I left for boot camp Feb. 17, and wegot married Dec. 30 of the same year.”
Karasch, an infantryman by trade, nowworks in the company’s intelligence section. It’s a job he said he has come toenjoy.
“I despised it at first, just because Isigned up to be a grunt. But I’ve grown to like it,” he said. “Now, I don’tknow which I prefer. I like them both.”
Karasch joined the Marine Corps threeyears ago.
“As cliché as it sounds, I joinedbecause I wanted to serve my country,” he said. “I just wanted to do my part,even if it’s just one contract. I actually thought I’d be a good fit for themilitary and possibly make a good career out of it.”