Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Well we've wrapped up our film projects and will be putting a bow on the final products this week! Its been such a great learning experience and I must say I'm very proud of what we've created.

I personally learned alot about both film and the Army through our project and am proud to have been a part of this.

I hope that everyone on our team, in our class and especially the 1-4 ARB soliders in Iraq and Ft. Hood have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

Merry Christmas,
CarrieQ

Monday, December 8, 2008

well the project has been turned in and it came out better than i could have ever hoped for. I know that I didnt do as much as the other members but im still proud of the project. i am hoping that when this gets into your possesion that you will be thrilled to see whats going on here at home. how people are staying busy and keeping themselves occupied. i wouldnt say that any of the projects are better than the others by any means, because they cant really be compared. they all bring something totally different yet similar to the table for your viewing pleasure. we didnt get to see them all last week but i think we will finish them up this week and im way excited. i know that one of the groups is like 15 mins long and im looking forward to that one; to see how much they got and how detailed their information is. i think all the projects are above and beyond any expectations that we could have ever imagined, especially since very few of us had any film experience coming into this class.

Ryan W.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK ALOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Hi All,

Just wanted to post while I had a chance! This semester is almost complete except for a few finals! I'd have to say, no sucking up involved I swear, that my favorite class I've ever taken throughout my college career has been this one! I loved doing this project and it opened my eyes to not only what I want to do in my career but also helped my learn so much about the people around me and even those who aren't here everyday like the people we did this project for fighting for us!

I just had a close friend get to come home for 2 days from Italy, but was also in Afghanistan, who is also in a Airborne part of the Army and is now being relocated to North Carolina. I spent the last two days with him talking about everything he's gone through and its AMAZING what the people in the forces do for us. He has seen everything there is to see and has been through it all and he never has one negative thing to say! He's just so proud of what he is doing, as he should be, and never wants to quit doing what he does to help our country. I hope he enjoyes N. Carolina and continuing to jump out of planes! Crazyness!

I hope I get another chance to do a project like this because I feel like it has more impact on what I want to do as my future career and more hands on experience than any other class im required to take. I truly hope everyone enjoys our class video we produced!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
HOOK EM',
~BRIANNA~

Monday, December 1, 2008

well its almost time for this project to be done, and its a relief to not have to have this hanging over our heads any longer. Im also very thrilled to get a progress report later in the semester or early next about how it was received...im sure that it will be met with nothing but kind words, we worked very hard on this project and as this semester comes to an end it will be nice to get some "rest" for a while. With our holiday just having ended Im sure some of us got a small taste of what "rest" is like and are more than ready to get some for once. it will be a nice, much needed change of pace from work, school, and whatever else we have going on.

Through our project and getting small glimpses into other groups I have become much more aware of what our men and women in the forces go through when they are away and a better understanding of everything they miss. I am eternally greatful of everyone that does what you all are doing. It takes more courage than I could ever muster up.

Ryan W.

Finally










Its been one crazy semster and I've finally gotten a chance to get on a computer and post! I hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day! I participated in the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving ( and am still sore!) and had a great time! It's amazing how many people you see supporting our troops at any and all events, its awesome! Christmas is just around the corner and I cant wait to share it with the people closest to me!








In other news I, as well as almost everyone else unless your a sooner, think that UT so should have been number 2 and we got hosed! I just had to get that out! Im sure we still have a chance at other great things though, but hopefully the BCS will be no more soon!








I've had a great time doing this project this semester and look forward to hopefully doing more just like it! It's been an "eye opener" to actually learn and see so many things dealing with the army, Ft. Hood, and just our wonderful troops in general! I now have an even more greater appreciation for what ya'll do for every one of us and you deserve all the respect in the world! I hope everyone enjoys our project this Christmas because it was a joy to make!



Hook Em,

Brianna

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and got your fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, casserole-de-jour, and of course PIE!!! I had all of that, along with the nap and turkey sandwich that always seem to follow.

Christmas will be here before we know it, and I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season!

CarrieQ

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

veterans day/thanksgiving

so on veterans day the main campus in san marcos was supposed to have a big veterans day celebration in the quad complete with a fly over at the end. but do to "inclimate weather" they moved it inside. It was a very good little 15 minute ceremony. the speaker was a student who had served multiple tours in iraq and was now a student at tx state and a president of a fraternity.

thanksgiving is coming up and every year i am astonished at how many people are thankful and grateful for what you men and women are doing. if it werent for you then we wouldnt be allowed to do this every year. i am thankful beyond words.

Ryan

Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Thanks Giving!!!

Hey guys just wanted to say happy thanks giving to all of you. We know that some of you are not being able to be here with your families this thanksgiving. So please don't be upset, we know how much tough time you guys are going through defending the our country. We wish you all the best and pray so that you could come home asap.
By the way if there are any TEXAS TECH fans, sorry for the loss. I do have to admit that ttech got whooped the other day by OU. But no worries the LONGHORNS will take care of them for you whenever we get a chance. On behalf of the Texas State students and the US residents I would like to wish a very happy thanksgiving this year and hopefully for those who could not be here this year will have so many more in the coming years. We thank you and your families for all the support. We do have a new president elect and I knowthat he is 100% working hard to get you guys home.

Saad

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Happy Veteran's Day!

Hello everyone -

If you're reading from Iraq, I just wanted to wish you all a happy Veteran's Day.

Commander Bennett and Amy actually came to our class last night to let us interview them and ask questions about what Army life is like in Iraq. It was very inspiring and he had so many good things to say about the troops stationed in Iraq and the families here who are holding down the fort until they return.

CarrieQ

Monday, November 10, 2008

Capturing the essence of family

Just wanted to add that a New President is about to take office. And God permit we may be looking towards the end of Iraq War. Just wanted to acknowledge how much your effort over there away from home is appreciated. We were at Killeen the other day to do some shoots for our project. It felt really good to see how everyone at home are helping each other go through these tough times. The feel of oneness was all around. Thanks you guys and hope our project will give you some insight about your families here in the United States and by capturing some of the moments with your family will give us the opportunity to share with you how they are so eager to see you guys. Take care and be safe.

Saad

Sunday, November 2, 2008

so lets see...
Texas Tech beat UT with like 1 second to go.
I think the AP Poll has Alabama at #1 but the BCS Poll wont come out until Monday.
The Phillies beat the Rays but not until Wed, because game 5 had to be postponed like 2 days.


I know that there is gonna be some music with the video we make for you guys and Im hoping to help get some kick ass music in there (im very much a music person, so i think im helping alot with that) and I think we decided that since this video isnt being used for profit we can use just about any music we want. so if you guys want to hear a certain artist lemme know. I think the only thing that im pretty adamant about putting in thus far is the hendrix version of the star spangled banner.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Hi All -

Halloween has been going on for some time at Ft. Hood and the costumes were very creative and cute, and the kids were good sports. Here are a few of my favorites!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

CarrieQ

Monday, October 27, 2008

More Sports

The Phillies are leading the World Series 3 games to 1 and im pretty sure tonight they are going to seal the deal. they have been outplaying the rays in pretty much every aspect of the game.

UT cotinued their streak this weekend by barely beating OK State, 28-24. They are in for a big game next weekend though, its an undefeated UT vs an undefeated Texas Tech. There are alot of teams in college football right now that are still undefeated and i think something like 5 or 6 of them are non-BCS teams and there is alot of talk about which of them will and wont make BCS bowl games, and which ones should be eligible and shouldnt be based on how many ranked teams are in their conference and the difficulty left in their regular season schedule. and im personally thrilled that in a very big game of the weekend that Georgia beat LSU 52-38.

Well, if there any teams y'all wanna hear more about just lemme know and ill get some more news, and other facts about those teams.

God Bless,
Ryan W.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Trip to Ft. Hood!


Hi All -


We had a big day in Ft. Hood on Saturday. Several us headed down bright and early so we could meet up with Saskia, Pierre, Avant, Iyana and Machai and take in a soccer game.

Then it was time to go on base for the Layette event. So many of the children were dressed up in their Halloween costumes and they were just adorable. We got lots of great pictures and video and Hillary also got quite a bit of audio, so we're all set to start editing!


Big thanks to Saskia, SGT Kincaid and Amy for hosting us during our visit!


CarrieQ

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Sports Scores

Alright. So I know that several of you ladies and gentlemen must be huge football fans. So this week Im going to keep you guys up to date on some scores and sports news.

Pro Football:
Patriots-41 Broncos-7 Redskins-14 Browns-11
Bucaneers-20 Seahawks-10 Texans-28 Lions-21
Raiders-16 Jets-13 Bills-23 Chargers-14
Packers-34 Colts-14 Rams-34 Cowboys-14
Pacman Jones entered alcohol treatment
The Patriots safety Rodney Harrison suffered another season ending and potentially career ending injury, he has a torn quad in his right leg

College Football:
Texas-56 Missouri-31
OU-45 KU-31
LSU-24 So. Caroline-17 (in this game a ref got confused and "tackled" an LSU running back in the middle of a play)
TCU-32 BYU-7 (huge upset)
Maryland-21 Wake Forest-0 (another huge upset)
Tennessee-34 Mississippi St.-3

If there any teams you guys want to know more about let me know and I will focus more on those teams and do some research each week as to what is going on with them.
---Ryan

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Trunk & Treat

Great picture Ed - thanks for covering this event for our team. I'm glad you got to meet up with Saskia and her family.

It looks like it was a fun event, and I can't wait to see the rest of the pics and video!

CarrieQ

Wednesday, October 15, 2008


Hey everyone...


I got a ride from the main gate to the hangar by Spc Waller. The Trunk or Treat was not what I thought it would be... I thought the kids would be getting the treats off of the Humvee's trunk or something. It was interesting that the parents lined up their vehicles and the kids tricked or treated from their trunks.... Amy's car received the Cutest trunk. It was loud and fun!!! The picture shows the over-all best trunk.

Unfortunately my video camera battery ran out, but I got about an hour and a half. Saskia was very polite as well as her children. Amy got Mrs. Gomez to give me a ride and showed me what was what on the way to the main gate. I got home about an hour and a half later.

Trunk & Treat

Hey everyone!!! What's going on? I'm happy to report that I'll be heading out to the Trunk and Treat shortly.... I hope all is going well over there Dragon's. I look forward to meeting any and all of your families.

Recently I put on my car the US Navy plate... I know its not what you all Army folks want to hear, but the navy is part of this great country we all call the United States of America and I wanted to share to the whole world that I am now displaying that I was part of protecting America at one time...

I pray to God you all will come home and may God keep you and your families safe...

Edward with Team... Hooah!!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

To my Dallas Cowboy Fans

This Sunday the Dallas Cowboys pretty much broke my heart while playing the Arizona Cardinals. The Cowboys managed to go into over time when Nick Folk kicked a 52 yd field goal. But just as soon as the excitement began for my Cowboys, it came to a complete end. In the first two minutes, the Cardinals managed to force a fumble from the Cowboys and make a touchdown. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time!! Also Romo broke his finger and is out for two weeks :(

So here's where you guys come in. Next time Jessica Simpson comes to sing and preform for you guys, just keep her there so Romo can get his game back!

On the bright side, Texas WHOOPED OU!!!!

O-WHO!!?!?!?!?

Hillary Till

Monday, October 13, 2008

sunday, october 12

I know it's actually monday but i couldnt find the email with the proper info.

Anyway, I spent this weekend thinking alot about my schoolwork and i think that one of the things im most overwhelmed with is this project. probably because we have still yet to do any real work on it and its not that long until we have to turn it in. Im also really excited about it though, im excited to put something out there for the soldiers to read. i wanna produce something quality that they can watch, or a blog they can read, or just something for them to see when they get sort of homesick and just need a pick me up. Or a video to watch on a family memberse birthday. Anyway, Im excited
---Ryan W.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Welcome to Saskia and her family!

Hi Everyone-

I got to talk to Saskia today and am really looking forward to meeting her and her children. They're going to be at the Trunk and Treat event so hopefully Ed can get some pictures of them next week.

She's also going to let me know about some other family activities we might be able to film or take stills of. I'll keep you guys updated as I get more info.

I hope you're all having a good week,
Carrie Q

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Hello Dragons!

Hey Dragons!

I am going to keep all of you Dragons"in the know" with all of the crazy funny stories that happen over here in the entertainment industry. I know that most of the movie stars and tv stars of today are pretty lame, but at least most of them will give you a good chuckle.

This story does not involve any movie stars, but it will still entertain all of you guys.

A couple of days ago a lady from Iowa reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health that she had a bat in her house. Not being too worried about it, that night the lady set her automatic coffee maker for the morning and the next morning she woke up and started her day as usual with a fresh pot of coffee. She drank a few cups and went about her normal day. That night when she came home andcleaned her coffee pot, she found the bat in the coffee filter!!

Now I don't know about you guys, but all I can think about is how the heck did that bat get into the coffee filter!? The woman is being tested for rabies and obviously the bat didn't make it.
All I know is, I'm checking my coffee filter every morning now before I even think about touching a cup of coffee!

Crazy story!
Hillary

Monday, September 29, 2008

Thank you Dragons!

Tonight in class, we talked about what the "message" might be in our film project. As we walked through all of the family moments we wanted to capture and share with the men and women in the 1-4 ARB, the personal sacrifices became very real to me. So if any of you from the Dragon Battalion who are stationed in Iraq are keeping up with our blogs, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you give up to protect our freedom and our way of life.

Carrie Q

Just an introduction

Hello, this is Saad, an international student at Texas State University. I am from Bangladesh. Also like to add that I graduate in Spring 2009. I am really excited that I will be graduating next semester. This semester has given me anopportunity to do something I have not done before (make a movie). So looking forward to that and hope to do a good job at it.

Monday, September 22, 2008

I hadn't thought about continuing this after the semester, but as Ed suggested, that's a terrific idea. I'm looking forward to working on something to reach out to our troops and getting to know their families here in the area.

See you all later tonight in class.

--Caroline

Gooo Team Gooo!!

Hey everyone!

I hate that I missed class last week but I was super sick! Anyway, I feel great today and I'm ready to start working on this project! It is going to be so rewarding and I am filled with pride that I get to be part of this project. I can't wait to see everyone today and get some ideas going!

Go Team!!
Hillary

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Awesome

Hi Everyone...

Ed here... I'm really excited about this project! As a Navy Veteran, I'm really glad we are supporting our troops out there and we have one adopted for the Fall semester. I hope we can continue this blog after the semester is completed.

I also wanted to send my brother-in-law, Joe Saenz, US Navy, who will be sent to Iraq sometime next week!!!! Go Navy!!!!

"Freedom is not Free!"

Ed
Hey Guys -

Video editing challenges aside, I'm really excited about this project and working with the families at Ft. Hood to create something wonderful for the troops for the holidays!

Carrie Q

Let the fun begin!

Hi all!

We are finally starting our blog for our class regarding our exciting task this semester of making a "documentary" for a loving troop over seas. I, as well as the rest of my group, are extremely ready to start and learn as much as we can to make a great finished project for the hardworking troop to show them just how much their family and friends are backing them and so proud of what they are doing, as well as how they remember them everyday even if they aren't sitting right next to them.

Brianna