Email   Print   Share By Capt. Monika Comeaux, 13th ESC Public Affairs

Facebook Digg Delicious September 6, 2012 | News

The winners of the Deputy Commander of Support Operations Film Festival pose for a photo with their trophy inside the Camp Eggers, Afghanistan clamshell Sunday. The winning team came from the personnel, logistics, resource management and secretary of the joint staff sections of DCOM-SPO. They got the highest scores from all four judges for their re-enactment of “The Wizard of Oz.” Capt. Monika Comeaux, 13th ESC Public Affairs

Judges and members of the audience smile at the performances of various staff sections during the showing of re-enacted film clips of well-known movies at the Deputy Commander of Support Operations Film Festival at Camp Eggers, Afghanistan, Sunday. Capt. Monika Comeaux, 13th ESC Public Affairs

The audience looks on as the first images of the Deputy Commander of Support Operations Film Festival appear on the screen Sunday in the clamshell at Camp Eggers, Afghanistan. Capt. Monika Comeaux, 13th ESC Public Affairs

CAMP EGGERS, Afghanistan - Members of the headquarters element of Deputy Commander of Support Operations, under NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, many of whom are deployed from Fort Hood, held a film festival Sunday to boost morale.

The idea for the festival came from the Cannes Film Festival, an annual international event that takes place in a scenic seaside town in the south of France.

Brig. Gen. Clark LeMasters Jr., DCOM-SPO and also the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) commanding general at Fort Hood, set strict rules for the entries. Film clips had to be in good taste, and were judged on costume and scenery, special effects, the number of staff members participating, acting abilities and the accuracy of re-enactment. The audience also gave some input by clapping up a storm for the popular vote scores. Festival organizers showed the original movie clip before playing their three- to five-minute re-enactment pieces.

Participants welcomed the film festival.

“I think it builds good cohesion and it’s a good distraction from all the work we currently have going on,” said Sgt. Irene Lopez, a human resources specialist with the personnel section (J1) of DCOM-SPO, who deployed with Fort Hood’s 13th ESC.

The re-enactments shown included the following movies: “The Wizard of Oz,” “Talladega Nights,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Office Space,” “The Color Purple” and “We Were Soldiers.”

“We chose to re-enact ‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,’ because it is a favorite of several people in the J3 (current operations) shop,” Maj. Joshua Johnson, officer-in-charge of the logistics common operating picture within J3, said.

“We also thought it would be easy to re-enact the ‘baby-Jesus’ prayer around the table scene,” said Johnson, who played Cal, Ricky’s best friend and teammate from the movie. Johnson deployed from Rock Island, Ill., to support NTM-A for a year.

Lopez and her office chose to re-enact “The Wizard of Oz” scene where Dorothy is welcomed to Munchkin Land. Lopez said they just recently received their first coalition forces co-worker from Belgium, and the section found it fitting to do this part of the movie to welcome their new addition.

Being in a deployed environment, one has to be inventive when it comes to costumes and props for a movie shoot. Actors were seen wearing anything from trash bag tutus to wigs made out of mop heads.

“For the costumes, we used different levels of the physical fitness uniform and winter gear to imitate the different NASCAR jackets,” Johnson said. “We then printed off some brand name logos and taped them to our outfits to represent sponsors.”

Johnson also explained that his crew did several takes and then edited the best scenes into one fluid movie “to highlight the incredible acting abilities of our superior staff.”

The first four best performances received winner’s cups that are awarded each month to the sections that distinguish themselves in the current month’s morale building event. The fourth place cup went to J5 (future operations), the third place cup to LogOps (logistics operations), the second place to the combined efforts of the J3 (current operations) and J2 (intelligence) sections.

The winner of this month’s challenge was the combined staff sections of J1 (personnel), J4 (logistics), J8 (resource management) and the secretary of joint staffs.

“I am glad that we won, because we put a lot of effort into it,” Lopez said.

Members of the 13th ESC plan to continue the tradition of monthly staff challenges and morale-building events upon their return to Fort Hood.