Mortar Bunnies
SIDEBAND LABEL ARCHIVE · RECORDS REVIEWCASE NO. · PAGE 1 OF 214

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION RELEASE · ON APPEAL

SUBJECT

Mortar
Bunnies

Cute.Deadly.In that order.

SMALL FLUFFY APOCALYPSE · FORT BRAGG ·

Photograph 1 · released on appeal

Four women soldiers in woodland camouflage uniforms holding their helmets, standing in front of a sandbagged mortar pit among longleaf pines
Photograph 1. Mortar pit, Fort Bragg, 1989. Four persons shown. Left to right: WARREN, BRAMBLE, CLOVER, THUMPER. Names withheld (b)(6). Weapon at rear not discussed.
Origin
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Active
1988–1996
Genre
Death Metal
Subgenre
Military Death Metal / Cottagecore Doom
Designation
Classified Fluffy Apocalypse Metal
Label
Small Fluffy Apocalypse Records
Personnel
Four. Call signs released.
Weapon
Mortar, 60mm
Status
Whereabouts classified.

Denied

Appeal granted in part

Personnel · (b)(6) applies

The crew

Four soldiers. One 60mm mortar. The names were withheld. The call signs were not.

Card 1 of 4SGT

Portrait of WARREN, a woman soldier with long dark hair pulled back, in woodland camouflage
WARREN

WARREN

Name (b)(6)

Rank
Sergeant
Duty position
Squad leader
Instrument
Lead vocals
Home of record
, Rhode Island (b)(6)

Released. Kept a tin of loose tea in her rucksack and a kettle in the laundry room. Every show began after the tea.

The voice. The tea. The second command.

Open the file →

Card 2 of 4PFC

Portrait of BRAMBLE, a woman soldier with blonde hair pulled back, in woodland camouflage
BRAMBLE

BRAMBLE

Name (b)(6)

Rank
Private First Class
Duty position
Assistant gunner
Instrument
Lead guitar
Home of record
Bakersfield, California

Released. Embroidered the pink bunny patch by hand, fourteen of them, in a laundry room on a Sunday. None were authorized. None were removed.

The patch. The solo. Not looking back.

Open the file →

Card 3 of 4PFC

Portrait of CLOVER, a woman soldier with curly dark hair in a bun, in woodland camouflage
CLOVER

CLOVER

Name (b)(6)

Rank
Private First Class
Duty position
Ammunition bearer
Instrument
Bass
Home of record
El Paso, Texas

Released. Carried the ammunition, the bass cabinet and, on one occasion recorded in the After Action Review, the drummer. Spoke on stage once. The archive has the date.

Carrying everything. The coffee can. One word.

Open the file →

Card 4 of 4SPC

Portrait of THUMPER, a woman soldier with a long red braid, in woodland camouflage
THUMPER

THUMPER

Name (b)(6)

Rank
Specialist
Duty position
Gunner
Instrument
Drums
Home of record
Duluth, Minnesota

Released. Lays the mortar with the sight and levels both bubbles before she fires. Tunes the drums the same way, before every show, with the house lights up.

The braid. The count. Level bubbles.

Open the file →

Requesters may name one member on Form SL-7. Most do.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGSPAGE 2 OF 214
  1. 1. (U)

    Mortar Bunnies formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1988. The band disbanded in 1996.

  2. 2. (U)

    The genre on file is Death Metal. Subgenre: Military Death Metal / Cottagecore Doom. The archive designation is Classified Fluffy Apocalypse Metal.

  3. 3. (U)

    Members: four. Call signs: WARREN, BRAMBLE, CLOVER, THUMPER. Names: .

    (b)(6)
  4. 4. (U)

    Duty positions: squad leader, gunner, assistant gunner, ammunition bearer. Weapon: mortar, 60mm. Unit: .

    (b)(6)
  5. 5. (S)

    .

    (b)(1)
  6. 6. (C)

    Personnel assigned to the evaluation were not entered into standard records.

    (b)(1)
  7. 7. (U)

    Recordings: three, on Small Fluffy Apocalypse Records, 1989–1995. Titles released in part.

    (b)(3)
  8. 8. (U)

    Shows located: nineteen. Two were overseas. Venue names withheld where the venue asked.

  9. 9. (U)

    Reason for disbanding: .

    (b)(5)
  10. 10. (U)

    The band's position on the matter is stated as follows: Cute. Deadly. In that order.

Released in part

Archive note

What the archive holds

The first request was denied. The archive appealed.

On appeal, 214 pages were located. Nine came back whole. Thirty-one came back with bars. The rest did not come back.

What came back is on this page, in the order received.

Army records show no women assigned to mortar sections before 2016. The archive has no further comment.

Released

  • Call signs
  • Ranks and duty positions
  • Hometowns, in part
  • Three recordings
  • Show log, in part
  • Six documents
  • Photographs

Withheld

  • Names(b)(6)
  • Unit(b)(6)
  • Evaluation records(b)(1)
  • MP blotter names(b)(7)(C)
  • Three song titles(b)(1)
  • Lyrics(b)(3)
  • Reason for disbanding(b)(5)
  • Current whereabouts(b)(1)

Released on appeal

The record, in six documents

Six documents came back in a single envelope, in no order. The archive has put them in date order. Nothing else has been changed.

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORDDocument 1 of 6

DATE 18 NOV 88(U)

The laundry room

  1. (U)

    1. In 1988 four soldiers were assigned to for the purpose of . Duty position on orders: .

    (b)(6)
  2. (U)

    2. Off duty, the four began rehearsing in the laundry room of Building , third floor, between 2200 and 0200. Instruments: one guitar, one bass, a drum kit stored behind dryer four, and a voice.

  3. (U)

    3. On 18 November 1988 the duty NCO responded to a noise report. He knocked twice. He stayed for the second half. No corrective action was recorded.

  4. (C)

    4. not entered into standard records .

    (b)(1)
Four women soldiers in olive T-shirts and woodland camouflage trousers rehearsing in a barracks laundry room: a singer at a microphone stand, a seated guitarist, a bassist leaning on a dryer, and a drummer with sticks raised behind them
Exhibit A. Laundry room, Building , 1988. Left to right: BRAMBLE, WARREN, THUMPER, CLOVER. Dryer four not identified. Laundry baskets belong to the floor.
MILITARY POLICE DESK BLOTTER — EXTRACTDocument 2 of 6

DATE 11 FEB 89(U)

The motor pool

  1. (U)

    2147 hrs. Desk received a report of amplified music from a motor pool bay, area. Patrol dispatched.

  2. (U)

    2203 hrs. Patrol on scene. Approximately soldiers present, standing. Four performers. Source of power: a generator, signed for.

    (b)(7)(C)
  3. (U)

    2204 hrs. Patrol remained on scene.

  4. (U)

    2331 hrs. Performance concluded. Area policed by attendees. Generator returned. Patrol cleared. Names: , , , .

    (b)(7)(C)
REQUEST FOR PASS — ATTACHMENTDocument 3 of 6

DATE 14 JUL 89(U)

Myrtle Beach

  1. (U)

    1. Four soldiers request a weekend pass, 1700 Friday 14 July to 0600 Monday 17 July 1989. Destination: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Distance under the limit. Vehicle: one, , owned by SPC .

  2. (U)

    2. Purpose: rest. A second purpose was entered on the line below and later withheld.

    (b)(5)
  3. (U)

    3. Attached, without explanation: a handbill for a Saturday show at a bar on Ocean Boulevard. Name of bar: .

    (b)(6)
  4. (U)

    4. Approved. All four signed in on time Monday. One was sunburned. The form does not say which.

Four women dressed up in 1980s evening clothes walking arm in arm down a wet downtown street at night
Exhibit C. Fayetteville, 1989. Off duty. Destination withheld (b)(6).
RANGE FIRING RECORD — 60MM — EXTRACTDocument 4 of 6

DATE 16 MAR 90(C)

The range

  1. (U)

    Range: . Weapon: mortar, 60mm. Crew: four. Evaluator: .

    (b)(6)
  2. (C)

    Time to first round: . Standard: . Rounds on target: .

    (b)(1)
  3. (U)

    Remarks: Evaluator requested a second iteration. Then a third. Results of the third iteration were not entered.

  4. (S)

    .

    (b)(1)
Four women soldiers in helmets and woodland camouflage at a sandbagged 60mm mortar position among pines: one at the muzzle, one with a red braid looking through the sight, one standing with her arm raised, one kneeling beside an ammunition can holding a round
Exhibit E. Range , 16 March 1990. BRAMBLE at the tube, THUMPER on the sight, WARREN giving the command, CLOVER with the next round. Third iteration. Results withheld (b)(1).
EXTRACT — LETTER, NOT MAILEDDocument 5 of 6

DATE 22 NOV 90(U)

The crates

  1. (U)

    Recovered from a footlocker in 1996. Writer: . Addressee: , Duluth, Minnesota.

    (b)(6)
  2. (U)

    “We are in Saudi Arabia. I can't say where. It's cold at night, which nobody told us. Thanksgiving was turkey, sort of. After, we played on the ammo crates with the amps turned all the way down. Maybe forty people came. They sat in the sand. Clover carried the drums in one trip. Nobody talked during the slow one. Tell Dad the braid is fine.”

  3. (U)

    Archive note: the crew played on crates on Thanksgiving and on Christmas night, 1990. The crew returned to Fort Bragg in 1991. The archive has no further record of the deployment and does not seek one.

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORDDocument 6 of 6

DATE 02 MAR 96(U)

The last show

  1. (U)

    1. The band played its last show on 2 March 1996, at a club in Fayetteville. Name of club: . Set list: .

    (b)(6)
  2. (U)

    2. Reason for disbanding: .

    (b)(5)
  3. (U)

    3. Disposition of personnel: , , , . Current whereabouts: classified.

    (b)(6)
  4. (U)

    4. The drums were left at the club. The coffee can was not.

RELEASED IN FULL, EXCEPT ONE LINESATURDAY, 14 OCTOBER 1989

After Action Review

Motor pool show. Motor pool bay, Fort Bragg. Unit area: withheld (b)(6).

What was planned

  • Eight songs, 2000 to 2100 hours.
  • One generator, signed for. Two light sets on stands.
  • Audience: the crew's own company, if they came.

What happened

  • Eleven songs. 2000 to 2240 hours.
  • The audience came, and brought two other companies.
  • The generator ran out of fuel during the ninth song. The crowd sang the rest of it. Fuel was obtained.
  • Clover carried the bass cabinet, the generator can and, after the eleventh song, the drummer, who had lost a shoe.

Sustain

  • Tea before the first song.
  • Two light sets. Pointed at the band, not the crowd.
  • Area policed by the audience before departure.

Improve

  • Fuel the generator before the show, not during.
  • Thumper to secure both shoes.
  • Song ten: . (b)(5)

Conducted in the motor pool after the show, by flashlight. Facilitator: WARREN. Recorder: CLOVER, who wrote it all down and said nothing.

Four women soldiers playing outside an open motor pool bay at dusk, army trucks parked inside, the drum kit on a wooden pallet, soldiers in woodland camouflage, a woman soldier among them, cheering with fists raised
Exhibit B. Motor pool bay, 14 October 1989. Left to right: BRAMBLE, THUMPER on a pallet, WARREN, CLOVER. Attendance: two companies more than planned. Faces in the crowd withheld (b)(6).

Small Fluffy Apocalypse Records

Recordings

Three releases, 1989, 1992 and 1995. Titles only. Lyrics are withheld under (b)(3), as the label requested.

SMALL FLUFFY APOCALYPSE · SFA-001HANG ITA1989 · DEMO

SFA-001 · Demo cassette · 1989

Hang It

Six songs, recorded on two Sundays in January 1989. Clover carried the four-track up three flights of stairs. Thumper tuned the drums to dryer four, which was the only machine on the floor that ran in time. One hundred copies were dubbed. The insert was typed on a company typewriter and folded by hand.

  1. 01Laundry Room, 02003:32
  2. 02Dryer Four4:08
  3. 03Hang It3:11
  4. 04Bubbles Are Level3:46
  5. 05 (b)(1)3:23
  6. 06Small Fluffy Apocalypse5:07
Open the release →
SMALL FLUFFY APOCALYPSESAND TABLESFA-004 · 1992

SFA-004 · LP · 1992

Sand Table

The first long-player. Written in Saudi Arabia, 1990–1991, on ammunition crates, at night, in the hours the crew was not on duty. The songs are about waiting, mail, sand, and the people at home. Recorded after the crew returned. The title is the planning model a unit builds in the dirt before an operation. The band built one of the studio.

  1. 01Manifest, August4:14
  2. 02Crates3:53
  3. 03Mail Call3:18
  4. 04Sand in the Sight4:41
  5. 05Stars Over the Berm5:42
  6. 06 (b)(1)3:39
  7. 07Thanksgiving, Field Expedient3:25
  8. 08Coffee Can3:07
  9. 09Homecoming Is a Formation4:56
  10. 10Sand Table6:52
Open the release →
SMALL FLUFFY APOCALYPSEFINALPROTECTIVE FIRESFA-009 · 1995

SFA-009 · LP · 1995

Final Protective Fire

The second long-player and the last record. Heavier and slower than Sand Table, and quieter in places. The title is the barrier of fire a crew plans ahead of time and fires last. Two titles were withheld before release. The label printed the black bars on the sleeve rather than reprint the sleeve.

  1. 01Baseplate4:23
  2. 02Bipod4:01
  3. 03Defilade5:18
  4. 04Wildflowers, Impact Area5:56
  5. 05 (b)(1)4:34
  6. 06Data Not Entered3:49
  7. 07The Cottage at the Edge of the Range6:29
  8. 08 (b)(5)4:07
  9. 09Hold Fire7:31
Open the release →
REGISTER OF PERFORMANCESPAGE OF 214

Show log, 1988–1996

Nineteen shows located. The real number is higher. Most were on Friday and Saturday nights, after duty hours. Two were on holidays, overseas.

DateDayPlaceVenueRemarks
Nov 18, 1988FriFort Bragg, NCBarracks laundry room, Bldg. Audience: the duty NCO.
Feb 11, 1989SatFort Bragg, NCMotor pool baySee MP blotter extract.
Apr 21, 1989FriFayetteville, NCThe RucksackFirst show off post. Paid in pizza.
Jun 3, 1989SatFayetteville, NC (b)(6)Hang It sold out at the door.
Jul 15, 1989SatMyrtle Beach, SC (b)(6)Bar on Ocean Boulevard. Weekend pass.
Oct 14, 1989SatFort Bragg, NCMotor pool baySee After Action Review.
Dec 8, 1989FriFayetteville, NCThe Rucksack
Mar 17, 1990SatFayetteville, NCThe Low CrawlDay after the range. Short set. No explanation given.
Jun 16, 1990SatFayetteville, NCThe RucksackReviewed in Sandhills Static.
Jul 27, 1990FriFayetteville, NCThe Low CrawlLast show before deployment. Not announced as such.
Nov 22, 1990ThuSaudi Arabia (b)(1)Thanksgiving. Stage: ammunition crates.
Dec 25, 1990TueSaudi Arabia (b)(1)Christmas night. Stage: ammunition crates.
Jun 8, 1991SatFayetteville, NCThe RucksackFirst show home. Ran long.
Apr 25, 1992SatFayetteville, NCThe Low CrawlSand Table released.
Mar 13, 1993SatBiloxi, MS (b)(6)Reviewed in Tidewater Beat.
Oct 7, 1994FriWilmington, NC (b)(6)
Apr 29, 1995SatFayetteville, NCThe RucksackFinal Protective Fire released.
Sep 16, 1995Sat (b)(1)Location withheld. Attendance withheld.
Mar 2, 1996SatFayetteville, NC (b)(6)Last show. The drums stayed.

The Rucksack and The Low Crawl were Fayetteville clubs. Both have since closed. The archive could not locate either owner.

Four women playing heavy metal on a club stage, the singer in a leather jacket, a mixed civilian and military crowd with fists raised
Exhibit D. The Rucksack, Fayetteville, 16 June 1990. The haircuts in the front row are on file.

Clippings in the file

Press

Sandhills Static, Fayetteville

Photocopied zine · Issue 14 · June 1990

The loudest four people on Bragg Boulevard

Mortar Bunnies, at a club we have been asked not to name

By the editors

We were told the Mortar Bunnies were soldiers. We asked what they do in the Army. We were told it was not a good question.

What we can say is this. The singer gives every instruction twice. The guitarist does not look at her own hands. The bass player said nothing all night and moved a full stack by herself. The drummer tuned for eleven minutes with the house lights up and then did not stop for an hour.

The demo is called Hang It. It is in the box by the register at three record stores in town. It will not be there long.

Tidewater Beat, Biloxi

Weekly · March 1993

Four from Fort Bragg

A North Carolina metal band makes the drive to the Gulf

From our music desk

Mortar Bunnies drove down from North Carolina on Friday and played a two-hour set on Saturday night to a room that was half airmen and half everyone else. Nobody left early.

The band's record, Sand Table, was written overseas during the Gulf deployment and recorded after. The songs are long and slow and very loud. Between them the singer said almost nothing, and the bass player said nothing at all.

Asked about the band's name, the singer said it was on the paperwork. Asked which paperwork, she said that part was not on the paperwork.

Sandhills Static, Fayetteville

Photocopied zine · Issue 41 · April 1996

Notice

Regarding a band

By the editors

Mortar Bunnies played their last show on March 2. We were there. We have been asked why they stopped. We asked them. We were told that was not a good question either.

The drums are still at the club. Nobody has moved them.

Statements on file

Witness statements

Three statements, given freely, by people who were there. Names reduced to initials at the witnesses' request.

SWORN STATEMENTNo. 1

I saw them at the motor pool in '89. I was a private. I went back to my room and wrote my mother. I didn't tell her about the band. I didn't know how.

Former SPC, initials R.T. · Spring Lake, NC

SWORN STATEMENTNo. 2

I have the Hang It tape. The insert has a black bar on it that somebody drew with a marker. Mine is the only copy I've seen where it's a different shape. I would like to know why.

M.A. · Raleigh, NC

SWORN STATEMENTNo. 3

Clover said one word to me in 1993. It was 'ready.' I wasn't, but I said I was. Best night of my life.

D.K. · Gulfport, MS

Index of exhibits

Exhibits

Photographs located on appeal. The persons shown were released. Their names were not. Exhibits still under review print as withheld.

An open army footlocker holding cassette tapes, a stuffed bunny and folded camouflage
Exhibit F. Footlocker, recovered 1996. Contents partially inventoried. The letter was in the lid.
A hand-embroidered pink bunny patch on an olive drab jacket
Exhibit G. Unauthorized insignia, one of fourteen. Not removed.
A manila folder of heavily redacted documents on a gray steel desk
Exhibit H. The file, as received by the archive.

Property in custody

Inventory

Items received with the file.

  • Item 001 · artifact

    The patch

    A pink rabbit, hand-embroidered on olive drab twill. Fourteen were made. Each member wore one inside her BDU blouse, over the heart, where an inspection would not reach. The other ten were given to people the band would not name.

  • Item 002 · artifact

    The kettle

    An electric kettle, white, kept in the laundry room of Building from 1988. Warren made tea before every rehearsal and every show. The kettle went to Saudi Arabia in a duffel bag and came back. It did not work there.

  • Item 003 · artifact

    The coffee can

    A two-pound coffee can holding soil and wildflowers. Clover planted it at every mortar pit the crew dug and carried it when the crew moved. The flowers changed by season. The can did not.

  • Item 004 · tradition

    The second command

    Warren gave every command twice: once to the crew, once to the room. On stage the room learned to answer the second one. The answer is withheld. (b)(5)

  • Item 005 · tradition

    Dryer four

    The only dryer on the third floor that ran in time. Thumper tuned to it from 1988 until the building was renovated. The renovation date is on file.

OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP

ToInitialsDate
1Archive intake
2Records review
3Redaction desk
4Counsel
5Sideband Label — central files
  • Approval
  • Comment
  • Concurrence
  • Direct reply
  • File
  • Information
  • Necessary action
  • Note and return
  • Signature
  • Deny

REMARKS Release call signs and what the appeal returned. Withhold the rest. Return to file.

FROM ROOM NO.

FORM SL-7 · REQUEST FOR RECORDS

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