The following article appeared in the Vermont Guardian.

For eight months, the Vermont chapter of the Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME) has offered “Reel Action,” a series of free once-a-month screenings of independently produced films related to ACME’s three-part mission—critical media literacy education, independent media production, and grassroots media reform—at a growing number of public venues around the Green Mountain State.

Members of the group have volunteered their time to host a variety of cutting-edge movies tackling some of the most provocative political issues, including Robert Greenwalt’s Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism; Robert Kane Pappas’ Orwell Rolls in His Grave; the Media Education Foundation’s Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear, and the Selling of American Empire; and Danny Schechter’s WMD.

But the February statewide screening is a bit different, featuring ACME Vermont’s first “Reel Action” student-produced documentary film, All That I Can Be. The film spotlights the youth-focused efforts of two very different organizations, the Educational Video Center (EVC) and the U.S. Army. Both organizations recruit young people off the streets. Both train new recruits how to shoot: EVC uses cameras, while the U.S. Army uses guns.

The Educational Video Center is a not-for-profit media arts center with a remarkable mission: “To help New York City youth develop skills in documentary production and media literacy while nurturing their idealism, intellectual development, and commitment to social activism.” Students enrolled in YO-TV, EVC’s advanced documentary film program, shot and produced All That I Can Be, which enjoyed its Vermont premiere at January 2005’s MountainTop Film Festival in the Mad River Valley.

How good are these student filmmakers? I saw their film for the first time at MountainTop, in conjunction with David Russell’s Soldier’s Pay, and was riveted. If All That I Can Be provides an accurate reflection of the kind of work YO-TV and EVC are providing for young people in the “city that never sleeps,” we should all celebrate.

As the film’s title suggests, the U.S. Army is the second organization spotlighted in the documentary. According to lawyer and G.I. advocate Tod Ensign’s new book America’s Military Today, the Pentagon is spending an annual $2.7 billion on advertising and promotional campaigns—think television and film trailers promoting an “Army of one”—to recruit new members, most of them drawn from the ranks of our country’s working and middle class youth.

“The purpose of these ads isn’t to make you rush out and do something,” explains one advertising executive. “They’re intended to make that something known to you … and bring it within the range of acceptable choices.”

All That I Can Be doesn’t support or condemn U.S. military recruitment per se. Instead, the 20-minute film follows the stories of two young men from the Big Apple, William and Dorian, as they embark on separate journeys with the United States Army. One heads to basic training, while the other goes off to a tour of duty in Iraq. The documentary interweaves their respective experiences with reflections from recruiters, veterans, journalists, anti-war activists, and people on the street.

The film is at once an intimate portrait and an exploration of the promises and realities of the post-9/11 U.S. military, offering insight into the lives of young people making their way in a society where enlisting seems to be their best or only option.

In Vermont, which has the dubious distinction of suffering more Iraq War–related combat deaths per capita than any other state in the Union, we’ve now witnessed, through extensive statewide media coverage, seven different deployments of Green Mountain National Guard troops.

More than 50 Vermont towns have introduced an Iraq War resolution for public debate during Town Meeting Day. The resolution calls for the State Legislature, based in Montpelier, to study the numerous deployments’ effects on Vermont, and asks Vermont’s congressional delegation “to work to restore a proper balance between the powers of the states and that of the federal government over state National Guard units.”

It also asks the president and the Congress to withdraw the U.S. military from Iraq. “The Constitution says the Guard is meant to be used only to repel insurrection or invasion or defend the laws of the nation. This doesn’t qualify,” said Ellen Kaye, one organizer.

ACME Vermont hopes that statewide screenings of All That I Can Be will help raise hard questions about the nature and direction of U.S. foreign policy, even as we acknowledge the bravery and sacrifice made by our men and women in uniform.