TIKRIT, IRAQ — Many of us will never know what it feels like to be in combat in Iraq, but one thing some of us who love salsa dancing do know is the feelings of joy, excitement, and true happiness that salsa dancing can give you.

Today, after randomly thinking about our U.S. Armed forces who have sacrificed so much for our freedom during so many years already, I wondered if some of them would ever use salsa as a way to cope with the stress of combat. Sure enough, I found an article on the Army website, written by Spc. Jazz Burney (3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs, 25th Infantry Division) that points precisely to how soldiers are able to cope with deployment and combat by salsa dancing. 

The article focused on Sgt. James Whorley, from Sacramento, Calif., who found that his stress was relieved and confidence increased by the joy he felt when listening to Latin rhythmic beats during their Friday Salsa Nights at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center. Whorley told Burney about how in his high school years, his Spanish teacher would bring a salsa instructor one day out of the year, which sparked his interest in the dance and the music. His interest in the culture, the passion, and the dance stuck with him until he was deployed to Kirkuk, when he saw a flyer advertising salsa lessons and he decided to attend. 

Whorley found that salsa dancing helped him open up more to people he did not know before, and discovered that respect and proper harmony between male and female are the key to great salsa dancing. He applied that concept to his daily relationships and found it to be a perfect explanation of how a successful marriage could also work. 

Spc. Burney also wrote how Whorley realized that he always looked forward to Friday Nights no matter how a stressful a week had been, and it helped him relieve some of his stress, and how on weeks when he was not able to attend, his stress levels went up. He was conscious to the fact that the build-up of high stress levels in a soldiers life, can lead to a multiple of negative results, such as marital problems, suicides, homicides, and drug or alcohol abuse upon returning from deployment. But having the Salsa dancing activity to release the stress and replace that void with positive feelings can help a soldier tremendously in the long run. 

Whorley expects to return to the U.S. and open up a dance studio and salsa nightclub as he wants to teach people how to dance and wants to share with them Salsa's stress-relieving ability. 

What a great story! It truly touches the heart to realize that the music we love has an effect on the men and women who risk their lives day-in and day-out for the purpose of our freedom. I wish I could go out there and teach them salsa dancing and dance with them. Learning about Whorley and his passion for salsa made me feel that I could contribute somehow to our freedom and to them, the men and women who I so much admire. 

God Bless them! And God Bless America!