I started this story on a plastic blue bench at the Quantico brig. I sat across a Marine in a blue jump suit and wire rim glasses. I could tell he was also apprehensive to see me as I was him. But there we were, face-to-face, two sets of security guard eyes on us, with a clock counting down the minutes of visiting hours.
This was Paul, a second cousin, who I met once at maybe age fourteen. I can’t exactly remember. But he lived down south and I was up near Chicago, so during my childhood our paths never crossed. Yet at this moment on a chilly winter day, they finally did.
Paul worked the legal system hard. Not long after our visit, he was released and handed a Bad conduct discharge. (I then produced Decision to Desert Part I and Part II.) A few months later, I asked MTV if I could produce one final segment - and do it in Chicago. They said yes.
During the course of the Street Team tenure, I decided if I was ever going to be in a position to define the tone of my career, this was it, right here and right now. So with that, I made the promise to tell difficult stories. Work hard to get the information right — seek truth and report it. Here’s to trying.
Hey Everyone. Let me catch you all up. It’s been a busy three weeks and because of it I have a very cool development to share with you.
Though I”ll do a specific post for Erica-America a little later, here is what I did for MTV this week. It was origianlly posted on THINK, along with a short video — and serves as a brief introduction to the time I’ve been spending with a young group of DC based Veterans.
Three Sundays in a row, at 4:00PM, I would pack all my gear, strap the tripod to the pack’s side and summon my inner EricaAmerica to come out and play. Thank karma she did, which made those afternoons of metro rides and shooting the shit with young Iraq Vets not just educational, but also a lot of fun.
This group house, by some measure, is the Real Real World. A place stocked with fruit snacks and beer , testosterone and girls. But in an UnReal World sense, these co-existors were more than just age-similar. They had all served in Iraq or Afghanistan since 9/11 and upon return, joined a fast-expanding group called the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). The house, on the Northeast side of DC, is not only their bunker, but the central headquarter for the business of IVAW’s grassroots operations.
I had my first dose of IVAW in action back in March, when I attended the Winter Soldier event. [see my video here] I was taken back by the candid, powerful, testimonies about the U.S.’s occupation in Iraq. I realized as I walked around the conference exactly what IVAW was doing — reporting the war from the eyes and ears of a very young, elite graduation class. A class that received educations at the University of US Occupies Iraq and are now taking their diplomas to bring attention to what they call a criminal occupation and use of force.
There is a 22-year-old freckled Embassay Guard. A 19-year old college junior. A southern farmer with flow hair and a Jewish political theory student. They are unlikely messengers. But they keep coming back with a message.
Over the three Sundays I went to the IVAW Group House, I listened for those messages. I captured three tapes, about five interviews and a whole lot of b-roll. While I kick off the process of importing, editing and producing it, I thought I’d share with you all this little sound bite from former Marine, Adam Kokesh. Kokesh has his own blogand attends Graduate School at George Washington University. In Iraq, Adam served on a Military Affairs team, which, he told me, “means we’re the guys shaking hands and kissing babies.” During the tour he also set up a store front to pay Iraq famliy grievance checks.
“Historically unprecedented,” he said. “We are actually paying people for losses.”
