From the Ranks: Music video features heartfelt homecoming - Entertainment, Music - Navy Times

From the Ranks: Music video features heartfelt homecoming

Army Pfc. Randy Hirneisen says he didn’t even notice the cameras — he just wanted to hold his baby boy.

The 20-year-old tanker with the Germany-based 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team got married during midtour leave from duty in Afghanistan last year. His son, Randy Jr., was born on Oct. 25, two months before Hirneisen made it back home to Georgia.

“It was pretty tough being away for that, but like anyone, you have some people who help you push through,” Hirneisen told OFFduty.

And some of that help came from a surprising corner.

Southern rockers Black Stone Cherry couldn’t think of a better story to spotlight in their just-released video for “In My Blood,” a song about the pain and paradox of separation and service.

The song is the fourth single from the band’s latest album “Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea.” The track recently cracked the top 30 on Billboard’s rock charts.

“We wanted to show a job that took the most sacrifice, and that was it,” drummer John Fred Young recently told online metal magazine Loudwire. “I can’t think of one that’s even comparable — ours is a grain of sand. We get homesick, but these guys are giving up everything to protect our country and the freedom of our people.”

The video is as much a mini-documentary as a music video, following Hirneisen from war to reunion — and the introduction of a father to his son.

“I was speechless,” said Hirneisen of that moment. “I didn’t know what to do or say.”

To offer their thanks, the band played a surprise private concert for Hirneisen, his wife, Cindy, and their son, along with a gathering of friends and family, at a bar in Augusta.