SSG Ham's Army Films - '11-'13 (Part 2 of 3)

Welcome back to my blog and here’s my part two of three of my military service and the films I created during that time, read part one HERE. Once I came back from Afghanistan the next few years I was able to travel all over the world continuing to tell the Soldiers’ story and I subsequently earned two more Military Videographer of the Year awards (MILVID), and my first two Emmy wins. This was an exciting time for me not only because I was feeling like my career in the Army was going really well but also we ended up moving from Alaska to Hawaii where my daughter was born. These ended up being some great years of our small families life. During this time I felt like I was at the pinnacle of my military storytelling; lots of support from my command leadership, I had all the gear I needed, I had access to the coolest stuff the military was doing and I was traveling to exotic and austere locations but I was also starting to struggle with PTSD, too much drinking and my ego was getting a little out of hand. Ultimately I didn’t realize how much I was struggling until I was out of the military years later.

Me with my Step-Father-in-law, Larry Markham after receiving my second Military Videographer of the year award, 2012.

U.S. Army Alaska - Two Stars

Let’s go back to 2010, I had just returned from my Afghanistan deployment where I won my first MILVID award and my reputation in the military started to get out there. Returning from a deployment was a strange time. Our unit was giving all of us a lot of time to spend with our families and there didn’t seem to be that many stories for me to cover circling around and I was a little exhausted and just wanted to be with my family. However, my work was starting to get seen by folks in the military and I was contacted by the Public Affairs folks at the higher U.S. Army Alaska (USARAK) headquarters, a two-star General Command. The USARAK public affairs video producer SSG Brehl Garza reached out to me and told me the General loved the work I had been producing and they wanted to pull me from my unit to create a video for them; a Major General asking for a Sergeant by name was not a common occurrence. The USARAK General wanted a highlight video of all the cool things they do across Alaska and with Brehl’s help we created the video below, U.S. Army Alaska - Arctic Warriors. The Arctic Warriors video was used as a highlight video that was shown to guests like Generals from other units, international dignitaries, Senators/Congress people and civilian guests. Additionally I was now given access to any other stories I wanted to tell, so I got to hang out and film with an Army Special Forces team partnered with the Indian Special Forces for their Arctic training exercises. I was super proud of this video (which also won First place as the 2010 MILVID Documentary entry) where we also did an Airborne operation and I received Indian Jump Wings.

Hanging with Medal of Honor Recipient Drew Dix at the Lt. Dan Band event in Alaska, 2010

One of my favorite pics of my son and I after my return from Afghanistan, 2010.

Hanging with one of my best friends Tyler and his wife Laura in Alaska, 2010. Tyler also did the graphics for my U.S. Army Alaska and ALCOM videos and still works with me today as my editor and graphics guy.

Melanie and I at Glacier Bay National Park, 2010.

U.S. Alaska Command - Three Stars

After I created the USARAK command video the Air Force three-star General at Alaskan Command (ALCOM) wanted his own highlight video. ALCOM is in charge of all military assets/units in Alaska; this includes Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, the Missile Silos, the Army and everything in between. I was partnered with a great Air Force Public Affairs team and we got a huge budget in order to capture the coolest things that ALCOM did in the Alaskan Arctic. I wanted to do a little more with this video but my time in Alaska was coming to an end and it was time for me to look for my next duty station. While I was directing this project I got a call from a senior enlisted NCO out in Washington D.C., SFC Mike Lavigne who had seen my work and thought of a perfect spot for me. Mike made a couple of calls and said U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii (a Four Star Command) had seen and loved all my videos and they wanted me to come there for my next assignment. When I told Melanie that we could go to Hawaii next she was absolutely thrilled. As far as my career goes, it wasn’t everyday a four-star General asks for you by name and I was honored to be a part of their team.

Filming for our ALCOM video at Elmendorf Air Force Base, 2010

U.S. Army Pacific - Four Stars

When I first got to Hawaii it felt like a dream, although reality kicked in real quick when we had to live in temporary quarters for several months because the housing on the island was always full. Melanie was also pregnant with our daughter, our son was just around three and we had our cat, so that proved to be a busy transition. Once I was assigned at USARPAC my first task was creating a command video that explained everything they did, similar to the one’s I made in Alaska. To give you context on what these videos are used for, pretty much every time our General would meet with foreign generals, dignitaries, congress people and senators he would show them this video. I doubt they still use this video anymore but at the time I’m pretty sure every General from all the militaries from India to the Pacific had seen it. It took over a year to finally finish it and looking back there are things I’d obviously like to change but for Army Public Affairs, this was the most advanced command video out there. Many other Army commands used this as a starting point for what they wanted. The USARPAC Command Video as we called it took up so much time that first year I didn’t really have time to do other videos I was passionate about, but I got to keep my skills up by doing videos like the Warrior Challenge one below.

At Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in the back, 2011.

Filming a time lapse of the Pearl Harbor Memorial, 2011.

A picture of the fam at the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, 2011.

Filming on a Russian Warship at an exercise in Hawaii, 2012.

Reading the kids their favorite book, 2011.

Stories of the Pacific Soldier

As I worked on the overarching USARPAC command video I started to see and hear the many stories about the history of the military in this region. Most people who understand history realize that the attack on Pearl Harbor is what got us into World War II and after that Hawaii became a major part of our military might and still remains one of our most important strongholds. Below you’ll see a couple films I’m really proud of that I think reflect the importance of what the U.S. Army Pacific offers. M.I.A. the LTC Faith Story is about an amazing organization called the Joint Pacific Accounting Command, their main priority is finding the remains of service members killed-in-action oversees and to bring them back to America for a proper burial. I won my first Emmy for this video. Another film that I’m super proud of was Legacy: Flag, Father and Son. Through this story I met Alan Hoe, an amazing Vietnam Veteran who is a wonderful veteran advocate. Alan sadly lost his son Nainoa in the war in Iraq and this film touches on their combined legacy and story. The other two videos are samples of the types of stories I was tasked at doing when we had special events on the island.

Philippines

Traveling on missions throughout the Pacific was definitely the highlight of my time at USARPAC. I got to travel to over a dozen countries, where each time we had a different military exercise and I got more and more comfortable telling stories in austere and difficult environments. The first trip I went on was to the Philippines which was historically very significant to the military, we had some major fights there during World War II and have had a significant presence there ever since. A lot of people don’t know this, but we’ve even lost Soldiers in combat in the Philippines since 9/11. Our Special Forces Teams have partnered with the Filipino government to fight a radical Jihadist movement there, the exercise Balikatan “shoulder-to-shoulder” was a major tool in training the Philippine Army to fight. Check out a few of the videos I made while participating there. I also earned The Philippine Commendation Medal from their government for my service.

Japan

Another highlight of my time with U.S. Army Pacific was when I deployed to Japan for a Medical exercise with the 325th Combat Support Hospital, 139th Medical Brigade, and 807th Medical Commands. Their mission was to create a fully functional mass casualty hospital in a week and then we would run exercises out of it. I was really starting to hone my skills on this video and was pumped about how these videos turned out. I had an amazing time on this trip with an amazing group of people. We also had some free time there and we decided to make a little zombie trailer :) The Japan Defense Force was an amazing group of people to work with and they even took me out for an all night escapade in the deep bowels of downtown Tokyo. This time in my life was when I was starting to struggle a ton in my personal life. My marriage was starting to see the tension and stressors of all the military moves, my time away and having two little kids. I was becoming more isolated and was fighting more with Mel. I loved being in Hawaii with my family but I was also becoming more ambitious in trying to get away, creating interesting, moving and difficult stories no one else in the military was making.

My son loved to get dressed up in my uniform, 2012.

India

India was another amazing experience and some of my best work to this point in my Army career. I deployed with Infantry and Stryker units to the Rajasthan desert right on the border of Pakistan as a show of force exercise called Yudh Abhyas 2012. The units spent the time their performing rigorous desert training in blistering hot weather. I completed these videos during the training in India and showed the final culmination video in front of all the U.S. and Indian Soldiers and Officers. These three videos would garner over 6 million views together and the Highlight Video gained the most views from a viral Army video to this point, it also happens to be one of my favorite videos I made during this time.

Filming Indian Special Forces and an American Stryker unit, Rajasthan India, 2012.

Celebrating the Holi Festival in India, 2012.

Talking with an Indian Special Forces Officer before his interview, 2012.

Carrying my gear through the Indian desert to get my shot, 2012.

Hanging with some Indian Soldiers, 2012.

Australia

I went to Australia twice during my time at USARPAC. The first was for a General’s conference where I made a highlight video that played at the end ceremony (the bottom right video). The second time I went was for their annual exercise Talisman Saber, which is also the largest collaborative military exercise that the Army takes part in. The Talisman Saber highlight video is another one of my favorites that I made and includes some of the best footage I took while in the military. I also filmed a couple other stories that all garnered awards; one about the Special Operations units throughout the military called We Own The Night, one about Airborne operations with the 4th Brigade 25th Infantry (my old unit) called Airborne! From Alaska to Australia, and one about a real functional combat hospital called Australian Combat Hospital - Talisman Saber. This was an almost three week exercise and I was part of an amazing public affairs unit.

In the bush with Aussie Soldiers, Australia 2013.

Melanie got to visit me in Australia after my exercise. Sydney Opera House, 2013.

Me with the great *Talisman Saber* Public Affairs team I worked with while in Australia, 2013.

Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Malaysia

My last year at USARPAC I got to explore some of the most fascinating places in the Pacific. My unit sent me to Sri Lanka with USARPAC Explosive Ordnance Team and the 18th Medical Command to help the Sri Lankan military in medical training and also help de-mine the millions of land mines that were laid during their 30 year civil war. If you watch the Sri Lanka video I try to give an historical background to the severe and deadly Civil War that country went through and by the end of the war there were millions of mines everywhere. Sri Lanka is an amazing country and it seemed like a very important mission to help them make their country a safer place for their future. I also spent time in New Zealand at a General’s conference and made this highlight video that played for basically every top general in the Pacific in one room at the end of the conference. Lastly the final video I made while in the army was the Malaysia Keris Strike Exercise video. I actually had my USC interview while I was in Malaysia and thought that was a pretty cool way to tell my story and a solid farewell to my time as a military storyteller.

Sergeant Major Kanessa Trent and myself, New Zealand 2103.

Always filming even in my dress uniform, New Zealand 2013.

Malaysian soldiers during Jungle training, Malaysia 2013.

Level Black - PTSD and the War at Home

The film I’m most proud of during these years was a short called Level Black - PTSD and the War At Home, which took me over a year to make. I remember when I went to my officers and told them about this story they initially told me no because the military had never done a film about a soldier with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the post-9/11 era and one of the reasons was that the war was ongoing and we didn’t know how it would effect Soldiers. Thankfully I persuaded them by showing a rough cut of what I was trying to do and they eventually approved the whole project and gave me the freedom to tell it like I wanted to. Level Black was part of my package that gave me my second Military Videographer Of the Year Award and my second Emmy win. Billy and I were also interviewed on the news and the film made the front page of the Star Advertiser, one of the main publications in Hawaii and several years later the film would be on Hulu and Amazon Prime. This film really helped me understand in a deeper way the power of a good story well-told and am still proud of it and it’s impact on military storytelling, I still hold the number one and two spot for most views on the official Defense Information School Youtube page.

The Defense Information School Official Youtube, where my videos are still number 1 and 2 for most viewed, 2023.

Col. Mike Donnelly and Sergeant Major Kanessa Trent awarding me an Army commendation medal for my *Level Black* film, 2012.

I got to talk about my film and it was shown on the local NBC affiliate, 2012.

Front page of the Hawaii Star Advertiser, 2o12.

Me and Billy Caviness the subject of *Level Black*, 2012.

Thank You!

Here are a few more photos from my time at U.S. Army Pacific. Part 3 of 3 of my Army films will be coming shortly and will close out this series discussing my time in as an Army filmmaker. I’ll talk about my time in the Army Reserve and my transition out of the military and into becoming a full time filmmaker and the struggles that came with that. Thanks for reading!