Retired soldier Jason Cull brings the battlefield into the recording booth for his debut album
Have a First Listen to Stranger by Jason Cull
When retired master-corporal Jason Cull started writing down his thoughts in 2008 after a 16-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces, he didn't think he would be turning them into song.
But Cull, who comes from a musical family, began to see music as a way of expressing his feelings. He taught himself how to sing and play guitar, performed shows for other veterans and released his debut album, Stranger, in 2020.
"It's very difficult for myself and other veterans to express themselves about places they've been and what they've seen," Cull told CBC Radio's Weekend AM.
"It was my way of expressing … flushing out the demons that I live with every day."
Cull saw combat in Kosovo and Afghanistan during his time in the military, including being on the ground in Kandahar for Canada's first deaths of the Afghanistan war. The bombing at Tarnak Farm killed four Canadian soldiers, who Cull memorialized on There's No Such Thing as Friendly Fire.
"It was a very difficult time for me, and it still is. The quote that they were killed by friendly fire always really bothered me, because like the title says, there's no such thing as friendly fire," he said.
"I sat down at the piano one day, even though I didn't play the piano growing up, and this song just poured out of me."
LISTEN | Jason Cull speaks with the CBC's Paula Gale about his time in the military and his debut album, Stranger:
Cull said the album's release has gotten an outpouring of support from members of the military community, allowing him to reconnect with people who he fought alongside.
Asked whether he, if given his time back, would still join the military, Cull said he would make the same decision he made as a 19-year-old.
"I'm very proud of the 16 years that I did put in. A lot of hard time, but you can't have your time back," he said.
"I just got to move forward, and be thankful that I'm one of the living. One of the surviving. I want to make sure that my message is sent out to all these other vets … the friends of mine that paid the ultimate price for freedom."
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With files from Weekend AM