Immigrant brings music to military service

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Harold Barnes III
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. (AFPN) --  From the capital of Peru to Wichita, Kan., the only zampoña player here is sharing his gift of music with the Air Force.

Airman Fredy Pasco works on the commander’s support staff of the 22nd Maintenance Operations Squadron, but spends his off-duty time filling the air with the sound of an Inca instrument known as the zampoña. He started playing the woodwind-type instrument that at first glance looks like a xylophone, when he was 6 years old in his hometown of Lima, Peru.

Airman Pasco touched American soil for the first time April 16, 1998.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said.

Music and family are the few constants in Airman Pasco’s life. Moving from Peru to Miami was the first major change in his life. The U.S. Embassy was offering special immigration status, and his mother, Martha, applied. Once approved, the family packed up and moved to a country with a new language, a new culture and new jobs.

Airman Pasco said high school was a rough adjustment, but his musical talent brought him into the spotlight during the school’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.

Anytime he plays the instrument, it gathers attention, Airman Pasco said.

While in high school, he learned about the Air Force from recruiter visits. His interest was sparked.

“I’m a Hispanic; I came from the very bottom of the United States,” he said. “I lived in a trailer and sometimes didn’t have food to eat.”

The family struggled in Miami, but Airman Pasco said he was determined to make his parents proud.

“It was tough, but it didn’t stop me,” he said. “It didn’t stop me from going forward.”

He enlisted in the Air Force during his senior year of high school and left for basic military training in September 2003.

“I came to the United States; I want to be someone,” Airman Pasco said. “BMT was the hardest thing … but whatever they put on my back, I wanted to show them I could handle it.”

Though he is Peruvian, he feels like a true American, and will defend the flag with everything he has, he said.

Looking back at all the changes in his life, Airman Pasco said it has been a struggle.

“It’s a big contrast coming from a different country [at] 13 years old [and learning a] new language,” he said. “Even though you have difficulties, my mother always told me, ‘there is no life without problems.’”

He said he encourages everyone who has difficulties in life to “go forward” and “be strong.”

Airman Pasco said he has found “his path to the future.”

“Airman Pasco is a great Airman, very polite, hard working, very dedicated, and focused,” said his supervisor, Senior Airman Shyra Coit.

Through all the changes in his life, his musical talent and the zampoña have kept him connected to his culture, he said.

A staple of the rural music of the country, his interest in the zampoña began as he heard the folk music played at parties and festivals by people from the rural communities of Peru. Many of Airman Pasco’s family members play traditional instruments like guitars and similar string instruments.

“I play by ear,” Airman Pasco said. “I listen and just fill in because I know every note of my instrument.”