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Before I went to Iraq in March, I left this envelope with my business partner and most trusted friend, David Chavarria.
I have left an evelope like this with him before every trip to Iraq.
It contains my will, a living will/advanced directive, last letters and some other detailed instructions.
When David, Brad and I first launched this endeavour I joked that the only way the major media would take note of me is if I died while filming a raging gun battle. I followed up the joke by saying it would be the best business move for the company.
Crass? Yes. True? Very.
Like many of you, I have been following the media coverage of the Medal of Honor being posthumously awarded to Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy.
Were it not for Marcus Luttrell surviving the gunbattle, the story of that SEAL team would not have been told.
Even more telling, is that had if the winds of what Julius Caeser called the 'Fortunes of War' and Clauswitz' called 'Chance' had blown another dirction--no one would know Lt. Murphy or Mr. Luttrell or the men of that SEAL team.
A firefight from which every U.S. service member lives is not news in eyes of the media.
A successful operation is not news to the legacy media.
If the team had survived the fight, they would be decorated and their medals would have the 'V' or valor device.
The only ink denoting that mission would be on the after action reports and award citations.
Even with the Medal of Honor being awarded and a best selling book, too few Americans know the story.
Only a handful of Americans can even recall one story of valor and heroism from this war on terror.
When was the last time you read in the newspaper or saw on TV the story of successful mission?
Well, you are about to watch one now.
This is Alpha 1-18, for those of you who are true news junkies, you will recall that this is Scott Thomas Beauchamp's unit. Beachamp being the famed 'Baghdad Diarist' for the New Republic magazine.
I'm not going to spoil the plot for you, but what you just saw is a typical day for Alpha Company.
(The green water splashing up on the humvee window is sewage. A previous run in with sewage had me doubled over and running a fever as I chased the grunts of Alpha Company all over Mahala 885 that afternoon. One of the occupational hazards.)
In this episode you would also meet one of my favorite young soldiers, Pfc. Kloos, who left college to join the Army and joined specifically to be an infantryman.
I asked him a question I ask a lot of soldiers...compare the war you saw on TV news to the one you are living.
When I stayed with Alpha 1-18, I heard a constant refrain that went something like this--"a reporter came here once, but he didn't stay very long and he didn't spend much time with us or go on missions or interview us."
Which brings me to where I need your input.
What do I do next?
Some of you reading this have already purchased a copy of the original Outside The Wire DVD, the story of a Marine infantry deployed near Fallujah in the Summer of 2005.
The sales of DVDs are what allow me to go to Iraq and keep making documentaries that show the success and quiet, unseen valor of our Soldiers and Marines.
After completion of the upcoming documentaries I had planned to go back to Iraq and save the story of Alpha 1-18 and Iraqi Army bootcamp for later.
They would be the lost episodes.
I also have the material for an entire episode on the people you never see--the welders who design and fabricate modifications for tanks, humvees and the pick-up trucks used by the Iraqi police, the mechanics who turn wrenches 18 hours a day and the Navy Seabees like Christa Lee, who can kill with her super model looks or the .50 caliber machine gun she operates during midnight convoy runs across Al Anbar.
I am going to let you inside my thought process here for a moment, and ask you to be the focus group to sharpen my thoughts.
As Jeff Emanuel recently noted, a trip to Iraq costs him $20-$25,000.
My cost is just a bit higher because shooting documentaries is more capital intensive.
But his number works for this purpose.
To break even on one trip--just the time in Iraq, I need to sell 3,000 DVDs.
As a mostly one man editing machine, it takes me 4-5 months to edit 2 hours of the final product.
That is 4-5 months of deferred income. I live cheap, so lets call that $8-$10,000.
Then production costs--studio time, satellite imagery, software and software upgrades and a computer that can actually edit true broadcast quality High Definition totals out at about $15,000.
To recoup those costs I need to sell another 2,555 DVDs.
Or a total of 5,555 DVDs just to break even.
I have not broke even on the original Outside The Wire.
If I go back to Iraq after releasing the new documentary, I enter the cycle again.
This is the economics of being an independent reporter cum documentary filmmaker in a place and time that before you go film, you leave an envelope containing your will and advanced directive with your business partner.
This is the economics that has caused me to start calling my life savings my 'prosthetic limb fund.'
And if I keep going back to Iraq, I will not touch my prosthetic limb fund.
So at the end of this post are my choices and what I want your input on.
Choice 'E' invades my thoughts more often than you think.
But, as I discussed above, if I do not go...who will?
I have no children. I can physically do the work. Getting shot at--as you will see in the upcoming 'Danger Close' episode--doesn't effect me that much.
And I truly believe in the young men and women serving in Iraq.
This is where I stand right now.
The new documentary episodes will be finished and released soon.
Those of you who recently bought a DVD, or made a Paypal contribution, or sent me an email for instructions on how to make a tax deductible contribution have guaranteed it will be completed.
It is ultimately you who have carried me through this endeavor.
I may have the highest stakes on the table--my life, limb and financial security--but all of you have a stake in this as well.
Thank you for your time and support.
Sincerely,
JD Johannes
You can continue to support JD on his next trip by contributing via Paypal, Blog Patron, Buying a DVD or making a tax deductible contribution.
We all know that freedom is not free--and neither is reporting from Iraq.
Each digital tape capturing the heroic efforts of Soldiers and Marines costs $7. JD uses almost 100 tapes on each trip. One DVD buys one tape that will permanently capture what the media refuses to cover.
As you know JD spends his time in Iraq with the Soldiers and Marines doing the work Outside The Wire. That means hundreds and thousands of dollars of equipment and gear gets damaged. Three dollars buys a new protective lens cover. Fifty dollars buys a pair of ballistic glasses. Just to get there, the airfare costs $1,500.
It all helps and it is all needed to tell the story that is not being told.
If you have the desire and means and would like to make a tax deductible contribution, or contribute at the Producer level, please contact JD via email.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and any support you can give.
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