MPFS Goes to Washington, D.C.

Seattle Local President Rik Deskin is a member of SAG-AFTRA’s Military Personnel and Families Support Committee (MPFS). The Committee was started as a national veterans task force in 2011. After the SAG-AFTRA merger in 2012, it evolved into the MPFS Committee. Rik is an Air Force veteran and he knew that there had to be other like-minded SAG-AFTRA members. He was right.

One of the big projects for the MPFS to sponsor is the GI Film Festival, which takes place every year in Washington, D.C. As a member of the committee, Rik attended the festival this year, along with the New York and L.A. co-chairs, Gene DeFrancis and Connie Palmisano, and Washington-Mid Atlantic Local Committee member Susan Snyder. The festival took place May 18–24.

The first evening was a special screening of Doolittle’s Raiders in the Congressional Atrium, with a reception that included guest speakers Gary Sinise and Lt. Colonel Dick Cole (now 99), one of the last surviving members of the 80 pilots and crew from that mission.

A B025B Mitchell bomber takes off during Doolittle's Raid in April 1942.

The next day was full of visits to various defense fellows of both the Senate and the House as well as key legislators. For Rik, the committee visited Washington Sen. Patty Murray’s defense fellow. That evening was the international block of films at the Canadian Embassy.

The third day, Rik visited the Washington-Mid Atlantic office in Bethesda, Maryland, for a Commercial Performers Committee follow-up meeting.

The third evening was a special screening of Casablanca at the Angelika Film Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The MPFS Committee stayed just a block away for the entirety of the trip.

The fourth evening was Wounded Warrior Appreciation Night, with an advanced screening of Spy.

On the fifth through seventh days, the festival ran from morning until night, with screenings of both short and feature documentary and narrative films, and the first two nights were capped with parties.

The MPFS Committee mission statement is "Military Personnel and Families Support Committee is committed to supporting veterans and their families, as they have committed their service to our country, protecting our freedom to assemble and form this great union SAG-AFTRA. With equal dedication and honor, our goal is to create unique and innovative programs and events to showcase and support our country’s veterans, including men and women currently serving, honorably discharged, along with veterans who are members of our union."

This item was originally featured in the September 2015 local newsletter.