Department of Defense Communications

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel was the first enlisted Vietnam War combat veteran to serve as Secretary of Defense, a distinction that carried symbolic weight across all branches of the military. I was assigned to produce a profile piece on Hagel for distribution on the American Forces Network (AFN), DOD News, and social media platforms. The piece won DMA’s internal Keith L. Ware Award.

Super Bowl Spots

Fortunately for those serving overseas, AFN airs the Super Bowl for all to watch if they’re not able to watch it at home in the U.S. Unfortunately for those serving overseas, AFN has to strip all of those high-end, top-notch commercials from broadcast so it’s not perceived that the DoD has a vested interest in any one group. That’s where I came in, helping fill the gaps with commercials, mainly featuring athletes and celebrities, at Super Bowls XLVI-XLVIII. Four playlists show the scope and scale of the work we did to capture and produce spots that service members can appreciate.

D-Day: 70th Anniversary

On the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings, coverage from the commemorations on the beaches of France. I produced a spot highlighting the upcoming commemoration that aired on DoD News and AFN. I wrote the script, directed the voiceover talent, and edited the piece.

Lab Teaches Marine New Tricks

The brief called for a recycling PSA for AFN broadcast. The concept that cleared was stranger: a Labrador Retriever teaches a U.S. Marine to recycle. Getting the concept approved through federal channels required its own production first — a proof-of-concept video featuring his wife as stand-in, shot to demonstrate that the dog could hold her own in a professional shoot environment before supervisors would authorize the real thing.

It was "Devil dog teaches a Devil Dog new tricks." The spot continues to air on AFN and Direct to Sailor.

Obama’s First Trip to Iraq After Becoming President

On President Obama’s first visit to Iraq following the 2008 election, the camera was there. This is the kind of coverage that gets assigned once: a sitting Commander-in-Chief in an active theater, his first trip to a war zone as president. The edited package and the full unedited speech from the original camera are both preserved here — the latter a record of what the assignment actually looked like from the ground.

Documentary Short: Specialist Stephanie Grewell

Specialist Stephanie Grewell was a combat medic who had been wounded in a previous Iraq deployment and returned to serve again. Produced for the Smithsonian Channel’s Memorial Day 2009 special, this documentary short tells her story. A complete edit was delivered to Smithsonian specifications alongside extended cuts provided without transitions for the channel’s editorial discretion. Both versions are preserved here: the Smithsonian-delivered edit and the extended production cut.

Enduring Partnership: A New Dawn for U.S. Operations in Iraq

Produced during the security transition as U.S. forces drew down in Iraq, this documentary short captures the institutional handoff between American and Iraqi security forces — what partnership looks like at the end of a decade-long conflict, told through the people navigating it. The title and the subject required a register that could hold both the weight of leaving and the shape of what comes after.

XVIII Airborne Corps End of Tour Memorial

End of tour memorials mark the conclusion of a deployment and the losses sustained during it — among the most important and most difficult assignments in military public affairs. This ceremony was presided over by then–Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin III, who would go on to serve as the 28th Secretary of Defense. The record stands as both institutional documentation and a historical artifact of the late Iraq War.

Year of the NCO: Staff Sgt. Phillip Shields

Produced for the Association of the United States Army’s Year of the NCO initiative, this documentary short profiles Staff Sergeant Phillip Shields. The format demands a specific discipline: finding the story inside the service record and telling it in a way that honors both without becoming a recruitment ad. Delivered to AUSA specifications for the 2009 annual meeting.

Field Production Sampler

A selection of additional production work from various assignments, including command events, cultural and human interest coverage, science programming, and institutional content that reflects the full range of the public affairs and audiovisual communications experience. Roles include primary production and supporting camera credits.

University of Kansas Tests Weather Drone in Antarctica

A University of Kansas research team deployed a weather drone to Antarctica to monitor climate conditions as part of ongoing climate change research. Produced during a 1st Infantry Division garrison assignment, the piece stands at an unusual intersection: military public affairs production in service of civilian science communication. It is also, in retrospect, an early marker of an interest in environmental storytelling that would run through the EPA work that followed years later.