Features

By Captain Jeff Manney

19WNR: 06/072

Buffalo Pilot Mixes Search and Rescue with Country and Western

It's safe to say the snarl on the microphone is not something Buffalo pilot Captain Scott Greenfield picked up in flying training.

For the amateur country and western singer, however, there's a time and a place for everything.

"It's nice to hear pretty music," he recently told an audience at one of the many talent contests he's entered. "But every once and a while you've got to put a bit of grit and growl in your songs, so I hope you don't mind if I snarl at you a little."

Frankly, given his start in karaoke, that's just the kind of promise that could lead to a painfully embarrassing spectacle for all concerned. Except that, when it comes to singing, Scott Greenfield is actually good.

Capt Greenfield in full country and western gear, strumming his guitar, sitting on the back door (ramp) of the CC-115 Buffalo, the search and rescue aircraft he flies out of 19 Wing Comox. CREDIT: Sergeant Joanne Stoeckl

The Royal Military College grad and former Air Weapons Controller is now a First Officer at 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron at 19 Wing Comox. But like the CC-115 Buffalo he effortlessly threads through B.C.'s narrow mountain passes, music continues to weave its way through his life. When he's not contour flying on a search, more often than not he can be found hitting the highs and lows of his favourite country songs.

It's a passion that continues to win Greenfield a remarkable level of recognition.

Four years ago he was one of six finalists in Discovery 2002, a nation-wide talent search sponsored by Country Music Television and the Canadian Country Music Association. Last year he was named the Vancouver Island Karaoke Champion. This year, he was again one of six finalists, this time in the province-wide B.C. Talent Search.

"I love the shock factor," Greenfield says of his two quite different pursuits, flying and singing. "People turn around when they hear me and say, ‘What? I didn't know he could sing!'"

Greenfield credits his success not just to a life-long love of singing, but also to his fearlessness in approaching bands and asking to perform with them. It's a practice he began in earnest a decade ago when he was posted to Colorado Springs as an Air Weapons Controller.

Sporting a Stetson and cowboy boots and looking (and sounding) like a taller, slimmer Garth Brooks, he wowed the local band at a live country bar. They quickly invited him to join them, and Greenfield's simple karaoke hobby suddenly morphed into a demanding pastime. He was often on stage for four full sets - at 13 songs per set, which made for some late nights.

Word of his talent made its way to NORAD, where he was asked to sing both the Canadian and U.S. anthems during military functions. And when Team Canada played the Western Hockey Association's Colorado Gold Kings before a crowd of 8,000, it was Greenfield again who sang O Canada and The Star Spangled Banner.

"I was a little nervous," he admits. "The Star Spangled Banner is a tricky one. If you don't start it off low enough, it just turns into a train wreck."

Earlier, as a ballistic missile early warning crew commander stationed in Thule, he brought karaoke - and country music - to the Greenland base. More recently in 2005, he did the same in Kabul, where he served a three-month tour as a Flight Safety Officer. At night he would take out his guitar as soldiers from forces around the world relaxed by a campfire.

"The Turks absolutely loved it," he says. "It's funny how music can really be a glue that brings everybody together."

As his vocal prowess has increased, Greenfield has been adding a little showmanship to his repertoire. In one memorable talent contest - the one that elicited the ‘grit and growl' promise - he jumped off the stage and into the crowd, singing face-to-face, cordless microphone in hand, finally finishing the song on the bar. The audience loved it, as did the judges, who awarded him first place.

"I enjoy that people respond to what I'm doing," he says. "When people stand up and say, ‘Hey, that's great!' it's fun. It wouldn't be fun if people said, ‘Hey, would you please sit down?'"

Despite his successes on stage, Greenfield knows that pursuing a career in music is hardly easy on the family, and certainly won't mesh well with his day job. He says his real focus is to spend as much time with his wife Stacey, daughter Kayla-Marie and sons Ross and Luke as he can.

"It's a little bit heartbreaking," he says. "You've got a talent and people respond to it but you know you can't throw 100 per cent of yourself into it.

"But music isn't the rest of my life, or my kids' life," he adds. "It's just something I enjoy. I love my job, I'll have a good pension and the truth about life on the road is that there are no guarantees. I'm still excited about the future. I still think I've got more to offer the military and the military has more to offer me."