Back In Action.

I just got back from the latest adventure for the documentary. We started out in Albany...shot for a few days. My mom, friends, and strangers were all involved. It was hilarious, entertaining, and tiring. From there we went to my unit...I had drill so why not film there. We weren't doing anything exciting...AT recovery. However, we were able to film all the females there (about 6?) working. The next day was "mandatory fun day" aka a family bbq that you had to go to for a few hours. We ate, interviewed a couple people...it was a good day. We actually got my commander on camera talking about women in combat. Then it was off to Washington. Stayed with LeEllen again...she's awesome. First day in Washington was 12hrs at the Pentagon. If you go there and you're a female...don't wear heels. I learned that lesson quick and by the end of the day I was walking barefoot. Classy. Anyways, I interviewed five Navy women...so intelligent, great personalities and just really strong. Some were on the Joint Staff, another was a fighter pilot (missions in Iraq and Afghanistan), and a Rear Admiral. They almost convinced me to join the Navy. Next day, was the Women’s Memorial at Arlington. Filmed there for a while and did two interviews. One is a retired LTC and the other a Sergeant who served in Iraq. Both were so great...the best part of all of this so far is speaking with different generations. The LTC was the first women to hold some of the jobs she had...and then the Sergeant, served in Iraq, did 200 combat missions...it is crazy how far women have come in so little time. So the next day we were off to Michigan. Michigan...not that exciting. We get there set-up, shower and get ready to interview Elaine Donnelly and Kingsley Browne. I don't know how much in detail I want to talk about these two interviews. Lets just say Elaine Donnelly...was a learning experience. A whole lot of talk about why women shouldn't be in combat, etc etc etc. Kingsley Browne...hmmm. Extremely bright. I'm still trying to figure out why he thinks he has a right to speak about women in the military though. Off camera, Browne and I were talking...I asked him, how do you draw the line in regards to women in combat? Where does combat start and where does combat end? Basically what jobs should women hold. He told me that women should not hold jobs where they could have to defend themselves, or be potential POWs...he said one more thing but I'm drawing a blank. So I looked at him and asked, "so I shouldn't have had the job I had then?" He said, I assume you were out in Iraq? I said yes and he told me, no I shouldn't of had that job. I didn't know how to respond. So I didn't. That was the end of our conversation. Next day, the drive back to Albany. We went through Canada. Boarder security didn't like us...they made us go through immigration. Waste of my goddamn time. Finally we were allowed to proceed into Canada...Ontario. I had to pee, so we pulled off an exit. There is nothing around us…trees and a few houses. We did a U-turn and ran into an ostrich farm. What? We decided to stop at this random 50's diner. Walk in and to my right there’s a group of 10 old people having the last supper...half of them were stuck in wheelchairs and not saying a word to each other...just eating their fish 'n chips. Really bizarre. Then we spotted a little shop...that's attached to the diner. We walk in. I guess you could call it an Antique store. Nothing great. The owner talked to us for awhile. He's going to Vegas soon and is excited because he was guaranteed he wouldn't be able to hear construction from his room. Great. Anyways, we get back to New York. The next day, a few more interviews...my roommate from Iraq was one of them. I always love seeing her. She's trying to convince me to volunteer to go to Iraq with her. Crazy bitch. We finally got done, watched Generation Kill and then I passed out.


So now what?! Still working on getting a few more women...so that might happen soon. Within a couple weeks, hopefully I'll have a new trailer to put up. It should be 100 times better. This project is going so well...everyone seems to be so excited and passionate about it. I couldn't ask for more.

I take that back...I have a question. What would you name a documentary like this?
Email me.

Hope everyone is well.