ALTAMONT — Most soldiers carry a gun; Wes Smith carried a trombone.

He joined the Navy band in 1968, during the Vietnam War, and went on a six-month deployment to the Philippines on the USS America. He played shows from the Hong Kong Hilton to venues in New Zealand.
A cousin of his, Rusty, thought the gig sounded so good that he, too, joined the military. Rusty was put on a refueling tankard and ended up putting oil into the USS America. "We were halfway around the world and I bumped into my cousin," said Smith. "We just waved back and forth to each other."

In 1972, Smith went into the Navy Reserve until 1977 when he switched into the Army National Guard, the 199th Army Band out of Peekskill, which is the oldest National Guard band in the United States, he said. Now Smith has reached the mandatory retirement age, so he’ll be putting away his uniform.
Music has been part of Smith’s life since he was a child. In the fourth grade, he started playing on his father’s old horn. "He had a trombone he wasn’t using, so I did," he said. He’s still got that trombone as well as the one that he used in the service.

After the war, Smith spent 28 years teaching music in the Albany City schools, and, since he’s retired, he’s been going back to teach there every once in a while, he said. He likes to watch the progress that his students make, from being able to put the instruments together to being able to play songs, he said.

His whole life, Smith has been playing in churches and orchestras. Once he filled in for the Utica Symphony and ended up playing the trombone for Ella Fitzgerald, he said.
"I think when you’re a musician," said his wife, Linda, "you never have to worry about being bored."