This country music star just reenlisted in the Army at age 59
NASHVILLE — Country music star Craig Morgan wasn’t finished with the military.
Raising his right hand Saturday night while standing on the Grand Ole Opry stage, Morgan again swore to support and defend the Constitution and the U.S. against all enemies.
“I haven’t sang in uniform in a long time,” the 59-year-old Morgan said moments after reciting the military oath while still donning the Army’s service uniform known as “pink and greens.”
The moment was shared to Morgan’s and the Opry’s social media pages.
Gen. Andrew Poppas, commander of the Fort Liberty-based U.S. Army Forces Command who administered Morgan’s oath, told the crowd that Morgan “wore the cloth of the nation” for 17 years.
Morgan is known for his top hits "Bonfire," "Almost Home," "Redneck Yacht Club," "International Harvester," "This Ole Boy," "Wake Up Lovin' You" and "That's What I Love About Sunday."
He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2008 while performing in a hangar at Simmons Army Airfield, according to a September 2008 Fayetteville Observer article.
During Morgan’s time in the regular Army, Morgan served with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, before joining the Army Reserves, Poppas said.
A 2011 Army article states that Morgan reenlisted with the Fort Liberty-based Army parachute team, the Golden Knights, and served with an 861st Quartermaster Co. in Nashville until 2004 when his music career took off.
A Recruiting Command news release stated that Morgan served 17 years between the regular Army and Reserves as a fire support specialist and left as a staff sergeant.
According to Billboard Magazine, Morgan will attend warrant officer school for six weeks in November and fulfill his Army Reserves commitment one weekend per month and two weeks per year.
Morgan will be assigned to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, the Recruiting Command news release stated.
Prior service
“I love being an artist but I consider it a true privilege and honor to work with what I believe are the greatest of Americans, my fellow soldiers,” Morgan said in a statement.
Morgan showed Saturday night’s crowd a pre-recorded video of him saying he decided to join the military because he grew up poor.
“They had uniforms and a place to stay and took care of my family when I wasn’t there,” Morgan said in the video.
Morgan started his military career as a forward observer.
“I learned how fortunate we are in this country, and I do believe that I would not have gained that experience had I not been in the Army,” he said in the video. “We all had a goal of doing and being a part of something that was bigger and greater than just ourselves, and I had taken that with me on everything that I’d done since I’ve been out.”
Morgan details his military experience in his memoir "God, Family, Country," which he wrote with “American Sniper” coauthor Jim DeFelice.
According to a 2008 Army article, Morgan was part of Operation Just Cause, during which the United States removed Gen. Manuel Noriega from power in Panama in 1989. He later deployed with the 82nd Airborne as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
In an American Veterans Center video, Morgan said he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Panama when there was a coup attempt.
Morgan said he still remembers the sound of bullets ricocheting against the aircraft he was jumping out of.
“When the bullets start firing, you just go into the mode and you do what you’ve been training to do,” he said.
Morgan was serving at what was then Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty, when he and another noncommissioned officer were tasked with delivering weapons that were to be shipped overseas during Desert Storm, he said in the Veterans Center interview.
Morgan said “someone came up with orders,” for himself and the other soldier to travel with the weapons into combat, before “someone else found out” about the orders, and the soldiers were told to go back to Fort Bragg.
Morgan, who is a Nashville native, said he originally shied away from the music industry but turned to music during his downtime in the military.
While in airborne school, he said he wrote a song about the Army’s first parachute test platoon, which the school’s commander, Leonard B. Scott, heard and asked him to perform at a banquet.
While stationed in Korea and known by his legal name Craig M. Greer, he was named the Army’s male vocalist of the year.
Recruiting lows, senator request and rejoining
In Saturday night’s pre-recorded video, Morgan said that his visits to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have made him realize he’s missed friends and “the sense of accomplishment,” while serving in the military.
“I realized that I’ve missed it so much. I truly believe that I still have more to give,” he said in the video.
In a Fox&Friends interview, Morgan said his more than 17 years of service left him feeling as if he “quit something” and was not finished.
“I’ve always been a little frustrated that I haven’t been able to complete my 20-year assignment,” Morgan said.
In a separate Fox interview, Morgan said recruiting in the military is “at an all-time low.”
A news release from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, states that when Army officials said the Army was 15,000 recruits short of its yearly goal last fall, Blackburn and her office worked with the Army and Department of Defense to allow Morgan to enlist, despite him being a few years away from the mandatory retirement age.
More: Craig Morgan awarded Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal
“It has been such an honor to work alongside Craig on his return to the U.S. Army Reserve,” Blackburn said in a statement. “Craig has long been a champion of our military, with his support spanning his previous active-duty service and an accomplished career in music.”
Morgan has performed for troops in numerous USO shows including concerts at Fort Liberty.
“You can continue to do your job that you’re doing,” Morgan told Fox News. “Like me as a touring artist, I’ll still be able to live my life and tour and do all the things that I do while serving my country at the same time.”
According to the Recruit Command's news release, Morgan will be able to continue touring and releasing new music, while also serving in the Army Reserve.
“No matter who you are or where you’re from, service in the United States Army is a unique, life-changing honor,” Gen. Poppas said in a statement. “Every soldier who enters the Army has the opportunity to become the best version of themselves, and Staff Sgt. Morgan is no exception. I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes and how he impacts other soldiers around the Army.”
More: ‘God, Country, Family.” Craig Morgan’s new memoir details life from Dickson to Thailand.
Morgan told Fox News he hopes that once he has completed his 20 years of service, more people will have a “desire to serve” their nation.
"There are bad players out there that want to do bad things to our country, and sometimes having a strong show of force is deterrent enough, and the fact that we are not that strong now because our numbers are so low is scary,” he said.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rrriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Why country music star Craig Morgan joined the Army again
