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Artists Face Off During Final Basra Talent Competition

By Sgt. Brandon LeFlore, MND-S

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq - The final Basra's Got Talent competition pitted five talented singers and musicians against each other in a battle of the melody. All five performers gave their finest performance but in the end it came down to a tie for first place between Sgt. Joe Roos, public affairs specialist, 34th Infantry Division and Cpl. Sara Thornton, 445th Civil Affairs Battalion, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div.

The tie forced the two first place contestants to face off for the title of Basra's Got Talent and a chance to open for country-western artist Artie Dean Harris on July 4 or for the all female band, Bandshe, July 8. Since Roos wasn't able to compete in the second round of Basra's Got Talent on June 20, he had to perform three songs to qualify for the finals. The first was a battle against Sgt. Edgar Mejia, 3rd Battalion, 159th Air Reconnaissance Bn., another performer who was unable to attend the June 20 event.

Cpl. Sara Thornton, civil affairs specialist, 445th CA Bn., croons out a tune from her own personally-written songs during the Basra's Got Talent competition at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation stage on Contingency Operating Base Basra. Thornton's performance won her first place in the competion and a chance to open for one of the concerts here in July. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon LeFlore, MND-S)

His second song, performed as part of the main competition, landed him a first-place spot. "My first song that night was a crowd pleaser - a club song," said Roos, a St. Paul, Minn. native. "The second two I selected on a whim." "When I heard there was a tie and they would have to perform again I thought it would be a strain (on the two performers)," said Sgt. 1st Class James Cookman, Rosebud, Mont. native and division counter-fire noncommissioned officer, Multi-National Division - South.
For the face-off, Roos performed a cappella, a three-part narrative known simply as "The Horror Story", one of the songs from his album, "Just Glad to Be Here".

Sgt. Joe Roos, public affairs specialist, 34th Inf. Div., performs one of the songs from his album a cappella during the face-off against Cpl. Sara Thornton during the Basra's Got Talent competition at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation stage on Contingency Operating Base Basra. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon LeFlore, MND-S)

Thornton on the other hand, performed the song "A Thousand Miles," from her catalog of personally-written music. "It took a lot of guts for Roos to perform a cappella, but he did a good job," said Cookman. "Thornton was on par with every other performance she's given, she's a solid performer. I'm amazed that every time I've seen her perform she's done a great job." In the end, Thornton stole the show and won the title and will be opening for one of the concerts. "She blew me away," said Staff Sgt. Kristen King, public affairs NCO, MND-S. "If she had an album out right now I would definitely buy it and 'veg' out to the music all day."