Last November, when local reggae band Natty Nation toured army bases in the Middle East, they traveled on a military C-17 transport plane that came under fire. They performed for tired troops on their third, fourth and fifth round of active duty.

This fall, during a tour in the Pacific, one of Natty’s performances competed with an on-base high school football game.

“They’re like two absolutely disconnected experiences,” said keyboardist Aaron Konkol of the band’s first and second tours entertaining troops abroad. They ranged from the war zone tension in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Djibouti, to the isolated but cushier subculture of the established mini-Americas in Japan, the Marshall Islands and Guam. The band returned from the Pacific Nov. 2 and is celebrating with a homecoming show Friday at the High Noon Saloon.

Konkol’s father and the band manager, Ron Konkol, calls the Pacific bases “1950s American culture locked in time,” where soldiers brag about having a Burger King, a Taco Bell and a McDonald’s.

“This was America on foreign soil. We thought we were going to Japan to experience Japanese culture. All we experienced was small-town America,” he said.

What didn’t change from last year to this year is the gratitude the troops showed Natty Nation. “We’re not big autograph-givers. But they were treating us like rock stars. Everything they do is exactly the same every single day, so when we showed up, it was a huge breath of fresh air. They really, truly appreciated it,” Aaron Konkol said.

But hold up.

A peace-preaching, anti-war reggae band performing for the military? That’s a far cry from Toby Keith’s threatening boot.

Actually, Armed Forces Entertainment approached Natty Nation. The organization is responsible for finding ways to boost troop morale with entertainment, everything from comedy to Kid Rock, and was looking in 2008 to fill out its small roster of reggae bands. Natty Nation agreed not to do anti-war songs (like “Violent War Games” and “Ceasefire” off the most recent album “Reincarnation”) and just stick with apolitical, spiritually uplifting material — of which the band has plenty.

“They told us not to do anything too edgy,” said Konkol, a ’99 West High grad and member of the band since 2002. Anyway, he added, the band isn’t there to stir up controversy. “We’re not playing for Donald Rumsfeld. We’re playing for the 18-year-old that just went out there, and he’s putting his life on the line for us so we can have the freedoms that we have. They’re the people that need the messages that we give the most.”

It worked both ways. The band came away with a deeper understanding of the world and the military.

“I respect the troops a lot more. We realized they’re just people,” said Demetrius Wainwright, aka “Jah Boogie,” lead singer and founder of Natty Nation.

“Just like the military people aren’t the Pentagon, America isn’t George Bush. America is the people that make up the place,” agreed Konkol.

The soldiers often surprised them. Both Konkol and Jah Boogie are followers of Eastern spirituality, and Konkol keeps pictures of his guru, Self-Realization Fellowship founder Paramahansa Yogananda, on his keyboard during shows. After one of the shows at a Pacific base, a soldier came up and flashed his Self-Realization Fellowship membership card.

“I’m a member of that also,” said Konkol. “I was like, ‘Woah, you’re in the military? That’s crazy!’ We ended up talking to him for a long time.”

Natty Nation left for the Middle East last year during the presidential election, so besides witnessing the constant stress of soldiers going in and out of war mode, they saw the troops’ reaction to Obama’s election firsthand — “a whole range of feelings,” said Konkol.

In the Pacific, they saw another side of the military, the enclaves where families live for years and do day-to-day, unglamorous bureaucratic support work.

“They were on active duty but now they’re fulfilling a role in the military that is necessary but that people like us don’t understand or even consider,” said Konkol. A man on one of these bases stopped him with tears in his eyes. “He grabbed my arm, ‘I’m really, really appreciative.’”

The Marshall Islands are so isolated that the Natty show practically made event of the year for the residents. “They had some kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd knock-off group there in July, and that’s all they could talk about ’cause that’s all they had to talk about,” said Ron Konkol.

Natty Nation is planning on doing more Army tours. After one of the shows in the Pacific, an Army rep told him the band’s “too good to be playing this circuit,” so they’re hoping possibly for a European tour.

The intense touring schedule — this fall, 15 flights in 20 days — and different lineups each time have tightened and strengthened the band. Jah Boogie and Aaron Konkol are the steady members, but the other musicians they’ve brought in have pushed the band to “deconstruct and reinvent songs,” said Konkol.

On the Pacific tour, guitarist Louka Patenaude, who also tours with Ben Sidran, brought in jazz influences, and drummer Francisco Martinez (of El Clandestino) introduced the band to new Cuban-Caribbean rhythms with his timbalis and wood blocks.

Meanwhile, lyricist Jah Boogie said he’s letting the “Jay Z syndrome” work — that is, not writing anything down. He’s got songs percolating for a new album but hasn’t spit them out on paper yet. However they shape up, one thing won’t change.

“It’s going to have the same vibe of love and peace,” he said.

IF YOU GO

What: Natty Nation w/ F. Stokes, T.U.G.G., Tropical Riddims Sound System

When: Friday, Nov. 27, 9 p.m.

Where: High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington Ave.

Cost: $5 in advance at high-noon.com, $10 at the door. Members of the U.S. military get in free with military ID.

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