Okay, you’ve fought the lines, got your popcorn and soda and settled into your hopefully comfortable theater seat to watch the movie, probably either the latest comic book adaptation, sequel or re-envisioning that you’ve shelled out way too much dinero to see. The theater goes dark and the screen lights up with previews, messages begging you to buy Coke and shut off that damned cell phone, and … hmmm … this is new … a look at the Army National Guard.
A two-minute film highlighting the missions of the Army National Guard will appear in 2,000 movie theaters nationwide Aug. 4 to Sept. 7 and in college campus theaters Sept. 8 to Oct. 5.
Entitled “Citizen-Soldier,” the film will play before the feature film and is meant to create an understanding of how the National Guard serves America, demonstrating the character and commitment of its Soldiers.
Most civilians never have an opportunity to witness the dynamic range of actions required to perform the missions of the National Guard, according to Col. Richard R. Guzzetta, chief of the Army National Guard’s Strength Maintenance Division. This film provides a glimpse of these capabilities and of the Soldiers who perform them, he said.
The film is a culmination of footage of Army Guard units across the country in training and real-life missions shot by embedded civilian and Guard cameramen.
Here’s hoping there’s no footage of troops stuggling to stay awake during the tedious but mandatory annual briefings or the silliness that always seemed to accompany the required annual crowd/riot control training sessions, often complete with shortened broomsticks for batons.
Hat tip to RTO Trainer at Signaleer.