Carson student’s performance honors U.S. service members

Devin Linehan, Carson High School freshman, stands with his bugle outside the front of the school Monday. Linehan’s performance of “taps” Thursday to honor the U.S. service members who died in Afghanistan last week was recorded and posted, and the video since has gone viral on Facebook. (Photo: Jessica Garcia/Nevada Appeal)

By Jessica Garcia

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

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A suicide bombing on the Kabul airport Thursday killing 13 U.S. service members and at least 169 Afghans devastated Carson High School freshman Devin Linehan so much, he knew he had to do something. After receiving help and hope from his mother, Lois Linehan, dean of students at Eagle Valley Middle School, he found his call to action.
Devin, 14, born to a family rich in its history of military service and possessing a love of music, picked up his bugle, warmed up within a short time, dressed in uniform and played “taps” that night with a flag at half-staff outside his Carson City home in honor of the men and women representing the U.S. Army, the Marine Corps and the Navy in Kabul who died.
“I was thinking, ‘How would those families feel if their father died?” Devin told the Appeal Monday. “Well, that actually happened. So I’m like, ‘What if my dad died, what if he was the one dying out there?’ So I tried to see what I could do to honor them since they’re trying to bring people out of Afghanistan.”
The family posted the video on Facebook that night, and soon after, Devin’s father, Sean Linehan, a Marine veteran who served as a sergeant trained in casualty reporting, was contacted by news agency Storyful.
On Friday, the video of Devin’s tribute had gone viral and the Linehans were contacted by Fox News. As of Monday, the post had received 12,000 views and more than 350 likes on Facebook. Also, because of his musical experience, Thursday’s rendition of “taps” wasn’t Devin’s first. Last year, he performed the song for Memorial Day, and the video was posted on KOLO’s website.
Sitting with the Appeal Monday at Carson High School, Sean said although military tradition is to play at 10 p.m., they thought it best to play at 9 p.m. so as not to disturb their neighbors.
Devin was born in Camp Pendleton, Calif., one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States after generations of family members who served previously in the military. Sean’s grandfather’s brother served in World War II, and he had an uncle and a cousin who were in the Navy. Lois’ mother also was a member of the Navy and her brother was in the Army.
Devin’s family-rooted appreciation for the Marines developed into his personal aspirations to go into a different branch and eventually to become a pilot.
“He wants to be Air Force, I wanted to be a Marine, it’s kind of a contention thing, so to each his own,” Sean said jokingly.
Devin also serves as a cadet senior airman with the Nevada Civil Air Patrol, the cadet program for which takes youth ages 12 to 18 and offers them rigorous leadership, fitness and aerospace training in encampments. The program teaches character development and leadership skills, which Sean noted provides core values and moral courage that is becoming rare for youth to acquire these days.
Devin also plays with Carson High’s cadet band under director Nick Jacques after having played in the Northern Zone Nevada Music Education Association’s Honor Band at the middle school level for the past two years before COVID-19 impacted the program.
Although it’s the trumpet and not the bugle that Devin considers his first instrument, he still wanted to use the principles, such as integrity, respect and excellence, he’s learned through his Nevada CAP experiences as a cadet to honor the service members who died in Thursday’s incident in Afghanistan, Devin said.
“I felt they should be honored in a way that was appropriate so I wanted to play ‘taps’ for them,” he said. “I wanted to make sure they got the respect they deserved, and I wanted to play as best as I can for them, so I wanted to give as much excellence as I can.”
Sean said it also was important to teach Devin and his other two sons, who are in middle school, the realities they would be facing through incidents like the Kabul bombing as difficult as they are to process at times.
“The real world is not a nice place, so you need to learn now to get that thick skin and do what you need to do to either protect that person on your left or right, whoever it is, and try to make yourself in the world, but I try to keep all of our kids up to date on current events, especially now,” he said.
Devin said he felt conflicts should be resolved more often through peaceful discussion.
“I feel America is trying to tear itself apart through all this stuff like rights and all that,” he said. “We just need to calm down and just sit and chat what the problem is and we can try and fix it, but people don’t want to try and be people and discuss how things need to be properly approached.”
The video can be found at www.facebook.com/1813135383/videos/369960084596510/.

Carson student’s performance honors U.S. service members

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