For One Soldier, Rap Is A Powerful Postwar Weapon

For One Soldier, Rap Is A Powerful Postwar Weapon
by DANIEL ZWERDLING
April 16, 2012

When Jeff Barillaro came home from fighting the war in Iraq, he felt lost, like thousands of veterans do. He didn't have a mission anymore.

But now, through music, he's found one: Under the stage name Soldier Hard, Barillaro raps — about how war has changed troops and their families. Other vets and their family members are now turning to his music, because they say he's speaking to them.

On a recent morning, the National Guard Armory in Evansville, Ind., looks and sounds like any military base in the country.

A batch of new recruits goes through its weekend drills. Most of them are still in high school, and they're getting ready to go to basic training when they graduate.

But that night, the training center has been transformed into a concert hall. A stage has been set up in the gym; the lights are turned down low. The Howitzer cannon parked along the wall is barely noticeable. A show, celebrating the new recruits, is under way.

The crowd parts as Barillaro — bald, covered with tattoos, with huge shoulders — rides up to the stage on a Harley-Davidson.
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