In Fallouja, a Musical Marine in Kilt

FALLOUJA, Iraq —  Amid the clatter of gunfire and explosions that regularly rock this city, an unexpected sound rises over the front line -- bagpipes.

Dressed in Marine fatigues with his gun at his side, 1st Sgt. Dwayne Farr, 36, blows into his set of pipes. The plaintive wail is carried by the wind that whips across this dust-blown, war-torn town.

“Playing on the battlefield -- I never thought that would happen,” Farr said.

Farr, an African American from Detroit, was inspired to learn when he saw another player who didn’t fit the Scotsman stereotype.

“I was at a funeral and I saw a Marine playing the bagpipes, and I thought, this isn’t a big, burly, redheaded guy with a ponytail and a big stomach. He’s a small Hispanic Marine. I said, if he can learn to play the bagpipes, I can learn,” he said, chuckling.

When he is not on the front line, Farr wears a kilt when playing, and some Marines have been skeptical about a member of one of the toughest fighting forces in the world donning what looks like a skirt.

But Farr is unfazed. He’s looking for a desert camouflage kilt he can wear in operations like these.

Among his admittedly limited repertoire is taps, traditionally played by the military when a service member is killed.

Farr has played the tune several times in recent days in Fallouja.