"So I had a pretty damaged arm," Rauch said. "I thought I'd never play the guitar again, and some of the doctors said that I probably wouldn't be able to play guitar again."

After a few months recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center though, Rauch taped a guitar pick to his finger, grabbed his guitar and "began playing like that," he said. "From then on I just kept playing guitar and I gained more strength and more strength out of my fingers and hand and I then I was able to grip the pick without any tape. I play normal now."

Helping Rauch and other patients develop their guitar-playing skills is a local gentleman who saw news coverage last fall of operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom patients recovering at WRAMC.

An attorney by day, moonlighting-guitarist in a blues band by night (on occasion), Bart Stringham recalled watching the news "showing these guys in various forms of physical therapy, playing pool, reading, sitting around."

"When I see 50 or 100 guys sitting around, I figure some of them are going to want to play guitar," he said. Stringham eventually found out there were some guys interested, and has been teaching guitar lessons in the patient recreation center nearly every Tuesday evening since January. "And I get just as much out of it as they do. I'm happy to do it."

And the Soldiers who have participated are appreciative.

"He's great," remarked Staff Sgt. Heath Calhoun. "A lot of people want to do something to give back or to help the Soldiers. Some people gave money, because that's what they can do. Some people gave food because that's what they can do, and I think this is his talent and he's trying to give that to us."

Calhoun, a bilateral above the knee amputee patient who was recently discharged from Walter Reed, said that makes him feel pretty good.

"I've always loved guitar. I never had the chance really to learn to play -- not that I can play now -- but I'm further along than I was when I got here. I've definitely got a start."

"He's missing both legs, but that doesn't make him any more or less a guitar player," Stringham said of Calhoun. "He can still play guitar."

He also talked of Rauch's success. "He's got a mangled hand, but I got him some different kinds of picks that help him grip a little better. He's been trying those and he's had some success."

Averaging three or four students per session, Stringham said he's seen improvement in all the patients and they continue coming until they're discharge from the hospital.

"I had one gentleman who was here one night and he was just picking things up right away. He was shipped out the next week, unfortunately. I was just showing him things and I said 'you're learning so fast,' and he said, 'Well, I'm just doing what you're telling me to do, sir.'" Stringham said, and laughed.

Going through a medical board, Rauch said he wants to stay in the Army. "I'm waiting to see how my healing process goes." He said picking up the guitar and playing again has been "a therapeutic kind of thing."

Rauch said he bought a guitar in the District during his first weekend as an outpatient and uses it when he travels back and forth from WRAMC and home. "I always have something to do. I always have my guitar with me.

"Now that I've been playing with Bart, he's given me a wider range, different kind of music, like jazz and blues. I never knew how to play that before," Rauch said. "I never took lessons before, so this is my first chance to get hands on with an instructor and actually learn other stuff on guitar. I think it's awesome. It's great. It's something to look forward to every Tuesday -- playing guitar and learning new stuff to practice with."

With practice paying off, Rauch will be playing a couple of songs during open mike night at the Austin Grill in Silver Spring Monday.

Stringham said he views learning to play guitar as something valuable to do with one's time, as well as therapeutic. "I'm thinking a lot of people, like I did, learn to play guitar just by sitting on the end of the bed playing. I wasn't necessarily gifted; I spent a lot of time doing it.

"When I saw the guys, ... I said, 'You know this is something they can have at the edge of their bed. It's something to work for, something to do to get your mind off of what might be bothering you, something you can excel in,'" Stringham said. "I'm going to just keep doing it."