Of all the video submissions I got, this is clearly the most “experienced” quality. Eric Raum has a gift – seriously mad talent – for making fantastic videos. He currently lives in Afghanistan and works for the USO to help boost the morale of our troops overseas. Check out how he documented a little piece of his adventures overseas.

Eric used a Panasonic GH1 and GF1 and edited the video with Final Cut Pro.

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You have to read his email to understand the context of this video:

I moved overseas with a promise to myself that I would stay until I could come home having traveled to the places I’d dreamt about as a child. Two years later, having discovered for the first time what it really means to love someone (an ongoing discovery), that promise changed significantly, for the better. Eliza and I attended college together and over a period of lengthy letters back and forth sparked by a random hello years later, I realized that I’d better not let her pass me by again, regardless of the distance.

Still having another year and a half to complete my work here in Afghanistan, those dreams of seeing the world took on a whole new light. Together, we decided to make the most of this time and instead of my coming home to the US, we would meet up once every three months in a place that we’d both wanted to see but never thought we could.

It has been an incredible journey so far, to learn about each other, other cultures, and ourselves; To find out what it means to be a team in a distant land, to work through the initial stages of a relationship while in a desert on horseback, or even worse, driving through Jordan! I am blessed this Christmas to know that I have found someone who will stand beside me, encourage me, and most of all, put up with those three month absences!

I hope that this can inspire others to explore, whether it be a far away land or their own home town. To see things from a different perspective and to take another look at that boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife this Christmas and find an adventure of their own! And if nothing else, I hope at the very least it may entertain!

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Eric has made many other videos and it just felt appropriate to share one other that he did. He said, I believe with great conviction in the importance of taking care of our troops over here. Whatever side of the fence one might fall on, these are our sons and daughters and they are a long, long way from the ones they love this Christmas. I did this in Iraq a couple years back, and the message still hits home in a major way this holiday season. I was looking through the rest of your blog and was truly encouraged to see your veterans day post!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Eric – for inspiring us on so many different levels.