Military veterans were honored a little early in Los Banos. </p><p>On Sunday, the Air National Guard Band of the West Coast gave a special Veterans Day performance. It was the first concert held in the performing arts theater at Pacheco High School.</p><p>"This worked out very well, because this is the Sunday before Veterans Day," said Gary Wulbern, the president of the Los Banos Arts Council. "It gave us a theme. It gave us an opportunity, through the veterans organizations, to get people to come to the concert."</p><p>Wulbern said the council gave out all 350 tickets to the show.</p><p>The Air National Guard Band of the West Coast is stationed at Moffett Federal Airfield, between San Francisco and San Jose. Approximately 30 members from all over the Bay Area and the Central Valley, plus musicians from other parts of California and from Nevada and Washington, make up the band. </p><p>Air National Guard Bands are considered counterparts to the Air Force's active duty bands. Guard band musicians are part-time Air National Guard members who usually have full-time civilian jobs. Members rehearse and perform one weekend a month and perform during an annual concert tour.</p><p>According to the Air National Guard West Coast Band's Web site, "[The band] supports the global Air Force (including Air National Guard missions) by fostering patriotism and providing musical services for the military community as well as the general public." </p><p>Capt. Vu Nguyen, the commander and conductor, said his band has several ties to Los Banos. </p><p>"We had two people in here that were former high school students. Master Sgt. Gary Lipe and Staff Sgt. Antonio Galindo were former high school students [in Los Banos]," Nguyen said.</p><p>Also, arts council president Wulbern is a former commander of the Air National Guard Band of the West Coast. Nguyen said that back in Wulbern's days, it was called the 561st Air Force Band and it was stationed in Hayward. Wulbern stopped conducting the band when he retired from the Guard in 1999.</p><p>The new theater was nearly filled to capacity as the band played a number of pieces, including several pro-American tunes written by composers from other countries, as well as some more renowned pieces by Glenn Miller and the official songs for all the branches of the U.S. military. Midway through the concert, the audience was invited to stand and sing. </p><p>The evening's high point for Wulbern was when he was asked to come up on stage and take his place at the conductor's podium. With a big smile on his face, Wulbern conducted the group -- moving his baton in small rapid arcs with one hand while occasionally giving silent direction to the musicians with the other.</p><p>As Wulbern left the stage, a male voice shouted, "You still got it, Colonel!"</p><p>After the performance, Nguyen said, "I thought we had a great turnout here for the concert. It was the first performance here in the hall, so it's nice to have a full house."</p><p>Nguyen said he enjoyed the Los Banos audience.</p><p>"It's great to play for an audience that enjoys the music and patriotic tunes and marches," Nguyen said. "Those little things mean so much to people that have served in the military and are currently serving. It is really meaningful for us and it's why we do what we do."</p><p>Wulbern, for his part, said he enjoyed being able to direct the band again.</p><p>"It was fun," he said.