About Bless our Soldiers
This project started when I entered the reflections contest at my school when I was in the 5th grade. The theme was "A Different Kind of Hero." For this contest I wrote a song called "I Can Be A Hero." which won several awards. I didn't know it at the time but this was the first song that I would write for the CD "God Bless Our Soldiers Tonight."
I remember my dad watching the news and getting frustrated. This would start conversations about how the news was reported. When I go places with my dad in the truck, we always listen to talk radio, and we talk about some of the issues that are being discussed. It would always make me feel bad inside when I would hear about how so many people would have such negative things to say about the war, President Bush and our country. I remember on one occasion my dad asking me how I felt about America, and after I told him he said, "Jaden you need to write another song, telling everyone how you feel about this great country that we live in and how much you appreciate our soldiers and all that they do for us."
Over the next several days I came up with the idea of "God Bless Our Soldiers Tonight." Over the next several weeks I wrote down my thoughts about our brave men and women who serve in the war, and how hard it must be for them to leave their families, and how much I appreciate them, as well as how I feel about this great country that we live in, and that America is generous, great and good and that we are "one nation under God". With a little bit of help from my dad I finished "God Bless Our Soldiers Tonight." Now I had two songs that I had written, but I wasn't exactly sure what to do with them, so I decided to write a few more songs to go with them, with the hope that I could somehow send a CD to every family who had lost a loved one. I told my dad about my idea, and he suggested that I start a little smaller, so I decided I would try and sell the CDs and donate the money to the families who lost their fathers or mothers in the war.
I just want to do something that will actually help our soldiers and their families. I want to say thank you and let everybody know that we are lucky to live in such a great country, and that anybody who doesn't think so is just dumb, and that's why I wrote "So Proud" (So Proud to be an American).
My dad took me over to a good friend of his, Ron Saltmarsh, who is a great guitar player and an all-around music guy. We played the songs for him and I told him about my idea to make and sell a CD and donate the money to the families and children who have lost their parents in the war. He thought it was a great idea and told us he would love to help and would be willing to donate much of his time and help us with this project. It's been over a year since I first started the project and I am really happy with how it turned out. I've had several opportunities to perform some of my songs at military and local functions. I've been selling my CD door to door and hope to find ways to let everybody know that this is the greatest country on earth and how thankful I am for the brave men and women and their families and for all the sacrifices that they have made. I am SO proud to be an American.
I pray for our soldiers and their families every night. I hope you do too.
Jaden Bliss
Jaden's proceeds from this music will be donated to children who have lost their fathers and mothers in the war through charitable scholarship organizations such as the Freedom Alliance Sholarship Fund and the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund.