Reserved to Fight

Did I ever tell you the story of how Mack and I met? Here's the condensed version:

Over 5 years ago, I was a very enthusiastic documentary film student at Brigham Young University. I was in a class with two incredible friends, and all three of us were working on our own little documentaries. Manju Varghese did this amazing piece on her mother (she's from India) and how to put on a sari. I did a short doc on the translation of the Book of Mormon from English into Xhosa, and Chantelle Squires was documenting a few stories about her neighbour who had just returned from Iraq.

Manju and I both finished our docs and eventually started helping Chantelle with hers. We realized that the story Chantelle was trying to tell was so much bigger than any of us could have anticipated. The soldiers that we were interviewing were dealing and coping with more than just a few war stories.

It was at a Marine Corps ball in Las Vegas that I met Mack for the first time. He was one of the soldiers that Chantelle had been interviewing. And, he was completely in love (besotted actually) with another friend of ours (also in film) at the time.

We followed, interviewed, probed, filmed and pretty much made a nusance of ourselves with these soldiers for the next two years. After one trip where we went to film a few of the guys in Vegas, Mack started asking me out. He was a cool guy, I had fun with him, and I loved chatting to him. Going out with Mack would be fun. Besides, I could relax with him and not be my usual nervous self around guys. You see, Mack was shorter than I was and so the relationship couldn't go anywhere. That was my rational at the time. Ha,Ha!

The group of guys we were following was cut to 4 main guys. Mack was not one of them (although he does make a few cameo's in the film). Two months after Mack and I started "hanging out" Mack told me that he wanted to marry me. I laughed in his face.

I was on a work visa at the time, and so sadly could not be as involved in the documentary as much as I would have liked anymore. I had to work to stay in the country. The girls continued their work, joined by another good friend, Coby Broyles. By this time "Reserved to Fight" the documentary had become a huge project. They had more footage than they knew what to do with, and needed funds to finish the project. Grant application after grant application was written. We were turned down three times by the same people, until eventually we had figured out the story well enough to be granted an ITVS grant.

This story ends with my marrying Mack, and the girls finishing "Reserved to Fight". The documentary airs this month on PBS. How cool is that? In the Salt Lake area, you can see it on November 12 at 9pm on KUED, otherwise go here to see your local listings.

I am so proud to be associated with this project.