Mophie was my first.
The first embed I coordinated from the initial request through the final escort out the gate. Mophie, a nickname derived from her AOL email address, was kind of a hot mess from the beginning. Often uttered throughout the process were the words, “fuckin mophie”.
When a reporter reaches out to us, we have a standard response referring them to documents on our website that they need to download, fill out and return, as well as some credential documentation they need to send us. Journalists who know what they want to see and when they will be here to see it, usually get most of the documents to us fairly quickly and in somewhat of an organized fashion. For example, when HBO’s VICE reached out to us, they knew exactly what they wanted to see and provided us all the required documentation for both the reporter and the camera man within a day. Unfortunately, we couldn’t provide them what they were looking for, but I tried really hard to make it work since they were so organized and easy to work with.
Mophie piece milled the documents to us over a 6 week period for five different people, while she changed her mind multiple times on what crewmembers she would hire to bringing with her. It all made sense once we talked to her on the phone; we tried so hard to keep her on topic, go over what she still needed to provide to us – like dates when she would arrive in Afghanistan, but we failed and the call mostly consisted of her describing the resumes of some of the crew she was considering hiring and the great work the Air Force parachute jumpers based in the silicon valley do and how great the project is going to be and… I know the type, I’ve spoken with the flighty B level Hollywood producer before, even worked with a few, but never expected to meet one that wanted to come to Afghanistan to produce a PBS news piece.
Eventually she got all her documentation squared away, crew identified, commercial travel booked. She arrived at camp Resolute Support in true Hollywood fashion; an entourage of four, which is twice the crew any other embed I have worked on has ever travelled with; each member carrying a couple backpacks worth of clothes for the 4 day trip, and each dragging a couple massive wheeled pelican cases of camera equipment, three of which were so big they barely got through each of the 4 turnstiles at the gate. Plus a tripod case and a few cameras that hung around their necks. The team garnered some funny looks and even a few ‘WTF is this’ smiles as they made their way to the landing zone.
Mophie eventually broke through the former-model-actress-with-an-interest-in-docu-news-production-typical-Hollywood stereotype for me though. As I got to know her, I found her to be incredibly genuine and sincere and appreciative of the work we put in to get her in front of the story she wanted to tell. The 57 year old, 105 lbs soaking wet, fireball of energy had a determination to do it all herself, even shlep all the bags she brought and refuse any assistance, that reminded me of my time in film school; she came at the project with a youthful, hopeful attitude and an innocent tenacity that I found inspiring. If nothing else, her attitude helped deter the frustration of the many special considerations and schedule changes she required.
Then. The last day of her embed. We sent her and one crew member over to TAAC-Air to get some of the Train Advise Assist mission with the Afghan Air Force. When they flew back, the videographer took video on the helo flight and video of Mophie getting off the helo. This is a big issue.
Shooting video without a PAO present is a violation of the embed agreement that every member of the crew signed. Shooting video of a helicopter landing zone, especially live while helicopters are landing in the zone, is a violation of operational security and has the potential to put the whole base at risk for attack.
As I escorted them to the gate, ready to say good bye, good luck, safe travels and happily put a check mark next to complete for my first full embed, gate security instead said, “oh good, the film crew. Have a seat here and wait for the international military police to come open an investigation on the footage you captured on the landing zone. Sir, as the escort, you will have to wait with them until the investigation is complete.”
FML.
At this point I am pretty well conditioned to being inconvenienced by, and to wait around idly for, media. But this time was particularly frustrating, saddening… I was fucking pissed. Because, while Mophie was being investigated, my two Air Force PAO friends, Jessica and Andrea, were boarding a helo to start their journey back home. I didn’t get to see them off or say good bye. Andrea, a fellow San Diegan and lover of good Mexican food, often spoke with a unique candor but with a dry and subtle delivery and with such brutal honesty and matter-of-factness that was hilarious. She made me laugh a lot. Jessica not only brought me up to speed on media ops and worked well as a partner up until this day that she left, but she empowered me to have a successful deployment in the role I was assigned. She was easy to work with and fun to be around, a combination that made the 12-15 hour days pass unnoticed. I will miss them both a lot and I am still sad we didn’t get the chance for proper good byes.
Fuckin Mophie.