SAN ANTONIO – For Hank Barbe, life without music meant flirting with death.
Twelve years of military service resulted in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that lead to an attempted suicide shortly after Barbe’s medical discharge in 2004.
“We think it was a suicide attempt, and I’m sure it was a suicide attempt,” he said. “I was in a coma four days afterwards, (and) I drove my truck into a telephone pole."
"But if you think you got nothing to live for, create something."
Thirteen years later, in a quiet home in the backcountry of Blanco and with a beard that reaches down mid-chest, Barbe is preparing for a new mission that will require different set of tools not suitable for combat: Raising awareness of PTSD at The Vettys Inaugural Ball by way of alternative rock.
Barbe served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an air command and control electronics operator, finishing his remaining eight years as a flight medic in the U.S. Army.
During his duty in the Army in March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, signaling the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Barbe’s medevac unit was among the first companies to cross the border.
Shortly after the invasion, Barbe was recognized for a lifesaving mission in a Time magazine article, titled “Anatomy of a Medevac,” highlighting the risks of a flight medic.
Barbe’s daily assignment was to pick up injured comrades in warzones with nothing more than four 9mm pistols and one M16 rifle. The Geneva Convention permits only the use of small arms in medical evacuation helicopters marked with a red cross.
2003 in Southern Iraq. Smuggled my guitar onto our helicopter. - Hank #threebeards #dustoff #musicheals #rockiniraq pic.twitter.com/G0XIUBsG82
— Three Beards (@Three_Beards) August 2, 2015
“When I first got back from Iraq, I had some PTSD stuff going on, and I was able to work through it a little,” Barbe said. “But I kind of quit everything. I’d stay in the house, and I didn’t talk to anybody.”
Silence was then replaced by the sounds of a piano and a guitar.
“I would play this piano, and I’d play this guitar, and I’d write songs, but I’d just stay home, and if I felt bad, I would play guitar,” he said.
As Barbe continued to form his love for music, he began to take notice of the response from listeners who were drawn by the lyrics at his open mic performances.
Among the listeners were active-duty service members and veterans.
“They could relate to some of the stuff that I was singing, because I was singing (about) what PTSD felt like to me,” Barbe said.
In 2013, Barbe went from solo performances to creating the Three Beards band.
The band gained worldwide attention in 2015 when it released its second single, “Lessons Learned,” a song dedicated to a soldier struggling with PTSD and suicide.
Two years later, and with five band members in total and a handful of songs, Three Beards will embark on a new journey by performing on a national spotlight stage at the Vettys Inaugural Ball, dedicated to honoring veterans and first responders, on Friday in Washington DC.
“I would’ve never even thought that we get a chance to play for a presidential inauguration,” Barbe said. “It gives me a chance to talk about PTSD, and it gives me a chance to make people aware that it’s a problem.”
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