Mike Byer

OPERATION SONG

Operation Song™ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Nashville, Tennessee. Our mission is to empower veterans, active duty military, and their families to tell their stories through the process of songwriting. Operation Song was founded in 2012. Nashville songwriter Bob Regan had the inspiration for the program in the 2000's while performing on Armed Forces Entertainment Tours at military bases around the world with country music artist Thom Shepherd. On those tours, Bob met many servicemen and women with very compelling stories and thought that pairing them with songwriters, natural story tellers, might create some very compelling music. He was also made aware of the large number of service related injuries, issues, and illnesses related to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that some service members were having challenging transitions back to "normal" life. The idea was that transforming their story into a song might help them process seemingly random and chaotic events and emotions of their service and give them some order, perspective, and validation. Operation Song holds weekend retreats around the Southeast in Ft. Benning, GA, Chattanooga, TN, Little Rock, AR, Pensacola, FL, Asheville, NC, Bandera, TX, and New York City, NY. To date, Operation Song has written over 1200 songs with veterans of WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan and Gold Star Families.