raveling the world, meeting foreign dignitaries, visiting the Kremlin and attending four out of the past five Presidential Inaugurations sounds like a high-ranking government official’s job. It’s actually all in a day’s work for Colonel Thomas Palmatier, conductor and commander of the United States Army Field Band and 1975 Crane graduate.

Over the past 30 years, Col. Palmatier has moved through the ranks of the U.S. Army Band starting with his enlistment in 1977. A tuba and voice major with a minor in history at SUNY Potsdam, Col. Palmatier then went to Truman State University in Missouri to get his master’s degree in fine arts with the intention of teaching. However, it was his desire to continue performing that brought him to the Army Field Band.

And perform he has.

After graduating to band master, Col. Palmatier became conductor of his own U.S. Army band in Panama. There, he traveled throughout South and Central America, each month traversing a different country. He even faced a small firefight in El Salvador when a rebels’ conflict broke out a block away from where he was performing.

After returning to the states as a commissioned officer, Col. Palmatier moved up the ranks taking charge of the Herald Trumpets at the White House, performing at every ceremony the president attended, meeting all of the currently living presidents and working on Inauguration Ceremonies for Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

“I was on television so much that I stopped setting my VCR,” he joked.

His career mimics his time at Crane. “Getting to do a lot of different types of performing with different kinds of music at Potsdam really prepared me well. Because that’s what Army Bands do. You may be playing a serious chamber piece and in the very same day you do a jazz gig or you might do a rock thing.”

For Col. Palmatier, one assignment might be conducting inaugurations, the next performing Aida with the Istanbul Symphony in Turkey and the next trying to raise spirits after the attacks of 9/11.

After attending the Command and Staff College in Leavenworth, KS, Col. Palmatier worked for the Army Staff in Washington overseeing all of the Army Bands. He was in this position when the September 11 attacks occurred. It was here he witnessed how music can be a part of the mourning and healing process. He described it as being “cathartic to feel like I was a part of the recovery effort.”

From there, Col. Palmatier went on to command the Army’s largest band in Europe. It was in this position that he led the American contingent through the center of Moscow and performed inside the Kremlin to commemorate the 60th anniversary of V-E Day. This was the first foreign band to ever perform inside the Kremlin.

Upon returning to the United States, he went to the Army School of Music to train all levels of Army musicians in conducting, giving Col. Palmatier the opportunity to teach. Most recently, he was promoted and is now the commander of the U.S. Army Field Band, putting on performances in local communities performing about 380 times a year, always to a full house. Col. Palmatier will be marching in the next Presidential Inauguration parade in 2009 for his fourth presidential inauguration performance but “looking forward to a possible future performance at Crane.” The request is in. Stay tuned.