Christopher Gerard Band Brothers in Arms

Christopher Gerard Band - Brothers in Arms

On Heels of ‘Brothers’ Single, Christopher Gerard Band Embarks
Ithaca.com
By Bill Chaisson
January 22, 2014

It isn’t really possible to not think about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) these days, but when singer, musician, and songwriter Chris Christensen’s cousin returned from Iraq he asked the soldier how he’d come through and his answer made him start thinking about it a lot more deeply.

“He seems to have come through fine,” said Christensen, “but he said no one comes back unscathed.”

“My brother slept with a pistol under his pillow,” said guitarist Richie Richardson. “He said it was difficult to get used to not doing that when he came back.”

Christensen’s concerns led him to write a song, “Brothers in Arms,” and he began looking for a veterans’ organization that might benefit from money raised through its release.

“I wrote it two years after my cousin came back, but it took about 20 minutes to write,” said Christensen. “When I hit the chorus it was pulling something from me emotionally. I sent it to my cousin, and he loved it and thought it was spot on.”

After combing the Internet for a while Christensen found a site for Soldier’s Best Friend, a veterans’ group based in the Southwest that takes dogs out of shelters and trains them to be service dogs for veterans with PTSD.

“I sent Soldier’s Best Friend a copy of the song,” said Christensen, “and they were totally fine with it.”
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