Ernest Jennings was a little surprised in 2003 when he heard a new band director had been hired at Des Moines North High School.
That’s because he had never quit the job.
Jennings was in the Iraqi desert at the time, running hazardous truck convoy missions from Kuwait into Baghdad as a captain with the Iowa Army National Guard. He was lucky, though, because a band director’s post opened for him at Des Moines East High School when he got home.
He is now assistant director of the marching band at the University of Wisconsin. In addition, he is a detachment commander with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 641st Troop Command Battalion in Madison.