Under the blazing Afghan sun, amid sandbags and shellfire, Corporal Matt Luloff found time to write songs.

“It was a great outlet, it helped me make sense of everything that was going on around me.”

As a member of the Task Force Kandahar battle group, Luloff did security, navigated fighting patrols on foot in the Panjwai-Zharey district and, at the end of the tour, transported troops along the world’s then most dangerous road —Highway 1 from Kandahar Airfield.

The summer months when the Taliban received an opium harvest influx of cash, there were more fighters and weapons , he explained.

“For six months, we woke each morning to a barrage of fire, went on patrol, got ambushed and then attacked again at sundown. It was a slog.”

Although his platoon was “relatively lucky”, things changed near the end of his tour when three soldiers from his regiment were killed in a firefight (Cpl. Andrew Grenon, Cpl. Mike Seggie and Pte. Chad Horn). His closest friend, Sgt. Prescott (Scott) Shipway was also killed as they were about to be sent home.

“Scott was killed on our last ride,” he said.

“It was devastating. We lost some great people.”

“These were humans that I loved so dearly, I’ve used them as a constant source of inspiration.”

Luloff left the military in 2009, made music, (he and his band released two albums, in 2011 and 2017) got married, had two daughters (now aged two and four) and was elected counsellor for Ottawa’s Orleans neighbourhood in October, 2022.

The soldier-turned-rock-star-turned-politician said his love of music began as a teen when he started borrowing cassette tapes – Phil Collins, Huey Lewis, Boston, The Beatles – from the library and taught himself to play guitar.

During his tour in Afghanistan, he borrowed a guitar from the Kandahar Airfield library and started strumming, writing songs and connecting with other soldiers through music.

After Afghanistan, he worried, as a combat Veteran, he’d been irrevocably changed by war.

“The way you feel, as somebody who has had those experiences, I didn’t think I could have a productive romantic relationship after that,” he explained.

“You feel torn apart.”

When his band, Hearts&Mines won $50,000 in an Ottawa radio contest, they used their winnings to produce their first album in 2011.

This line from a song off their first album, Find Your Way, stands out as his favourite;

“Do you think you could stand, to take me as I am, with my heart on my sleeve, guts in my hand -- we’ll hold it together with rubber bands.”

Luloff hosted the Veterans Open Mic night in Ottawa during Veterans’ Week 2023, an event he hopes will build and strengthen connections for Veterans through music.

“Being a combat Veteran can be incredibly isolating, especially after you leave the military,” he said.

“Creating connections and meeting people, and using music to express yourself is healthy. It’s really a beautiful thing that Veterans Affairs Canada has put together, and I hope it carries into the future — Veterans need an ecosystem of support.”