Page 8 - Beacon 5-22-15

8 May 22, 2015 www.march.afrc.af.mil

Robert Sekula, man of many hats

by George A. Smith cash, so Sekula looked into serving with the ence how to get to, and enjoy, popular off- $)1SKRWR&KDUOLH*LOO
$)1%URDGFDVW&HQWHUSXEOLFDIIDLUV Navy. “They offered me any job I wanted,” duty destinations. The chief of Europe’s re-
said Sekula. “I asked for broadcast journal- gional productions at the time, Charlie Gill, 5REHUW6HNXODDEURDGFDVWMRXUQDO-
Robert Sekula’s ever-present hat is as ist, and they said any job but that one, how chose Sekula to lead AFN’s Summer Para- LVWSURGXFHUZRUNLQJDWWKH$PHULFDQ
much a part of him as a toe or finger, but his about nukes?” lympics coverage in London in 2012. )RUFHV1HWZRUN%URDGFDVW&HQWHURQH
top cover doesn’t do him justice. He should RI0DUFK$LU5HVHUYH%DVH¶VPLVVLRQ
be wearing eight or nine nested together. He eventually did get the broadcaster of- “He was in charge of a team that pro- SDUWQHUVZHDUVPDQ\KDWV
fer he wanted, graduating from boot camp duced several reports a day under strict
Sekula, a broadcast journalist for the the day he turned 30 in 2001. “They called deadlines to make the stories relevant,” sonal life as well. He recently moved into a
American Forces Network (AFN) Broadcast me old man, grandpa, you name it,” Sekula said Gill. “He also produced a very small apartment to be able to afford to send
Center, March Air Reserve Base, is a one- laughed. “But I still out-ran just about every- touching and uplifting final special report his wife Jessica to Texas to help take care of
man TV station. He can shoot, edit, direct, body. My instructor called them the couch that tied together the stories of wounded a relative with severe health needs.
voice, light and write. Versatility became ne- potatoes of Generation Nintendo.” warriors who were competing.”
cessity when he worked in Hollywood. In all his life’s experiences, Sekula
Sekula attended broadcast journalist When Sekula left Europe in 2013 for a recognizes he’s a hard guy to typecast.
“It was feast or famine, working or un- training, and the military amplified his ver- position at the AFN Broadcast Center he “I’ve reinvented myself more than any-
employment,” said Sekula. “If I wanted to satility by teaching him something new: was routinely chosen for high-profile pro- one I know,” he said, peering out from
work, I needed to be flexible.” And work how to shoot and edit his own video. “The ductions. Sekula’s current boss, Kyle Ham- behind his AFN hat. That extends to his
Sekula did. He scored loads of gigs, includ- military does a great job of teaching you mitt, echoed Gill’s comments. “Robert can hobby as a rock musician.
ing “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “The Chase,” how to be a jack-of-all-trades journalist,” do it all.”
“The Dentist,” “Standoff,” “The Journey- Sekula said. Robert “Multi-Hatted” Sekula is a lead
man” and different music videos. Sekula shot and produced products singer, song writer, guitarist and keyboard-
After attending broadcast journalist train- from the 2014 Grammy’s, The Guys ist.Yup, four more hats.
Unlike many in Hollywood, he didn’t ing he spent a bit under seven years in the Choice Awards and Comic Con in San
focus on one narrow specialty. “I worked Navy, with assignments that included the Diego, California.
hundreds of big-to-no budget shoots as a Navy Media Center, and on the first U.S. air-
production assistant, assistant splinter unit craft carrier to visit Sierra Leone in decades. While at Comic Con, Sekula melded his
director, audio technician or lighting direc- knowledge of Hollywood, production and
tor.” Sekula felt his experience made him a He eventually left the Navy and worked the military to arrange for Wounded War-
better director. “Wearing all the hats helped as a federal government employee at AFN riors to get passes to attend the highly-cov-
me, as a director, understand what I was ask- Europe’s regional production center in Vi- eted event, which had been sold out for close
ing each specialist to do.” cenza, Italy, where he produced popular to a year.
“Europass” segments that showed the audi-
Still, there were gaps of no work and no Sekula’s helpful spirit extends to his per-

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