March 01, 2004
We Live in this Movie
This has become their movie, not mine—each person with their own reference. For the older officers and NCOs it's M*A*S*H. They brought aloha shirts for poolside BBQs. For others, it's Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. You can see it in the way they ride in their Humvees: one foot hanging out the door—helicopters with wheels. For the teenagers, it's Jackass Goes to War.
As much as they project cultural icons into their lives, through my viewfinder you can see that they are defining their own experience; a movie different than anything anyone has seen before. The other day, while recording freestyles, a young SPC looked at the camera, charged his weapon and said,"For y'all this is just a show, but we live in this movie."
Update: Some of the war tapes that the soldiers from Gunner Palace sent me from Iraq will be used on the dvd to tell their story--it could be the first war movie shot by soldiers themselves--I'm curious how it will be perceived.
