29 November, 2007
The First Step

STANDING UP is here!

After several months in post-production, I think some long overdue “Thank You’s” are in order as part of the first news brief regarding Standing Up.

I'd like to thank Michael Tucker for his initial help in getting me started and for continuing to give me advice when I needed it throughout the production. From the US Embassy in Kabul, Lou Fintor helped me take the first real step towards making this documentary by patching me through to Col. James Yonts and his assistant, Lt Col Laurent "Swamp" Fox and the rest of the good folks over at Combined Force Command – Alpha (CFC-A).

Contrary to what I was expecting, the people over at the CFC-A were very obliging. After a short “meet and greet” between myself, Yonts and Fox my proposal was checked out by their JAG and in short order, I was given the green light, embed status and transferred over to their Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) counterparts. They really helped in speeding things along and saved me from a lot of potential downtime in Kabul.

At the KMTC Sergeant J.P. Parsons, Sergeant First Class Mike Potters from the Combat Arms and Tom and Captain Lawrence Hatfield from the Collective Exercise Training sections of Training Assistance Group V (TAG V) gave lots of support and advice to me while I was embedded at Camp Alamo. To this day their help (and their openness) remains greatly appreciated. I am also indebted to Sharna Nolan for taking time out of her work at the Afghanistan Research Evaluation Unit to come over to Camp Alamo and assist me with interviewing some of the soldiers based there. Her help made an important difference.

1st Sergeant Don Weber proved to be an incredibly helpful and patient (Monk-like so, I must emphasis) Public Affairs Office liaison. There were a few times when for one reason or another, I found the communication lines breaking down between myself and some of the senior officers at Camp Alamo and each time Don Weber did his very best to first see my side of the issue and then see what he could do to find a solution to the problem at hand.

Over on the Afghan side of things, the KMTC PAO had a prince among Public Affairs Officers in Sherine. Over the course of my four months at the KMTC, as my designated minder Sherine was a champion. I wasn’t the easiest of charges, repeatedly dragging him out into the baking hot sun of the Afghan summer. Still, he maintained his unique sense of wry humor throughout and even pitched for me, helping me talk with the Afghan recruits – not as a superior officer but as another human being interested in their own story. I think that eventually, his presence - not only with myself but with the young recruits I was documenting, allowed me to make a better documentary. It is my hope that as of this posting he and his family are safe and well and continue to remain so.

Outside of the walls and wire of the KMTC there’s also a long list of people that helped me get to the finish line. First and foremost among them beng Nathan Stock and Sahar Alnouri. When I was truly down and out, their kindness and support sustained me. I’d also like to thank James Murray, Claudia Staerk, James Turnshek, Nikki Searby, Matthew Sorensen, Rachel Vineyard (thank you for the almanac!) Valon Xharra, Jacob Burstein-Stern, Mihira Sood and Najib and Aziza Habib for all being great friends and keeping me connected to life outside of the War on Terror. I would also like to thank my uncle, Khaled Maiwand, for quickly purchasing and shipping the bulk of my post-production equipment to the Philippines.

Back here in home base Metro Manila, I want to thank my good friends and colleagues JP Carpio and Emman Dela Cruz. As fellow filmmakers, my time spent with them talking and watching films helped clarify the final edit of the documentary. My friendship with them helped me through the post-production phase, pushed me to press forward and complete it. It’s my sincere hope that in years ahead we’ll be doing more of the same for each other.

Lastly I would like to thank Ken Stebbing for giving a young kid in his elementary school class, in between captivating tales of fearless Zulu warriors, Sumerian demigods, Troy and David Lean, the dream to one day make films. Thank you for igniting the fire in my heart to do this sort of work Ken, I won’t ever forget it.



Stay tuned for more news soon about STANDING UP and where you can go and see it!