Carlos J. Saldaña was born on 30 November 1964 and grew up in the small border town of Calexico, California, which is about 45 miles west of Yuma, Arizona.  Even at a very young age, Carlos wanted to become a musician, begging his parents to purchase him a guitar so he could learn to play the songs he was hearing on the radio as a youth.  And up through his high school years, his passion for music enabled him to form several Bands along with some of his school mates, thus setting the stage for his dream of someday becoming a professional musician and recording artist. 

However, after graduating from High School in 1982, Carlos felt a strong patriotic calling to serve his country, so he promptly enlisted in the military as a member of the United States Air Force (USAF).  His enlistment ran from August 1982 thru December 1992, and included tours of duty at:  Keesler AFB, Mississippi;  Luke AFB, Arizona;  and finally, his last tour of duty at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan.  During his final tour of duty on Okinawa, Carlos continued to pursue his musical dreams by performing as a Solo Acoustic Guitarist & Singer at local Cafés, Restaurants and Clubs at night, while returning to his military duties during the day.

Eventually, Carlos decided to separate from military service in December 1992 as an E-6 with an Honorable Discharge and several key military awards under his belt.  However, still feeling a strong patriotic calling to serve his country, Carlos accepted a promising career as a “civilian patriot”, serving the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) overseas.  He has faithfully exercised the duties of that position for the past 13 years and is now a senior executive for a civilian unit assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) on Okinawa.  In this capacity, Carlos is now one of the most senior graded Hispanic civilians working for the USMC on Okinawa.

Carlos’ full musical “Profile” is posted here on this website, and reflects his many years of focused dedication to pursue his love of music after hours, while continuing to address his patriotic duty as both a Military service member, and more recently as a “civilian patriot”, with the U.S. Department of Defense.  As a result, this endeavor reflects Carlos Saldana’s continued desire to serve his country faithfully by now becoming an “American Ambassador Of Music” in Japan, promoting positive relations and cultural diversity through the internationally recognized language of music.  And the positive message found within Carlos’ music couldn’t be more appropriate to encourage continued positive relations between his local American & Japanese communities.