We ask how his career in the military prepared him for life in Hollywood and how it is being a conservative in such a liberal town.
La Libertad: When did you start working in the entertainment industry?
Vaughanster: In November of 2010, after I retired from the U.S. Army and moved
to California to help my wife further her acting career.
La Libertad: How does the military compare to entertainment?
Vaughanster: Success in any industry requires discipline, integrity,
reliability, self-sacrifice and leadership. Any industry involves stress and
adversity. Both the military and entertainment industries require motivating,
feeding, housing, clothing, moving, paying and organizing large groups of
people in order to achieve common goals. Both industries involve people with
egos; politics; and stroking egos. Both industries involve the "hurry up and
wait" routine. Both industries involve rules and regulations; loading and
unloading large vehicles; setting up and tearing down equipment, such as tents
and generators, at various sites... Both industries involve dealing with a lot
of people I'd rather not deal with; on the other hand, both industries involve getting to meet celebrities, such as George W. Bush and Gary Sinise, whom I had the privilege of meeting in person, in Iraq.
La Libertad: What have been some of the highlights in the year or so that you've
been in the entertainment industry?
Vaughanster: Getting to see "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," as a member of his live audience. I had wanted to do that for years, and, in some ways, the experience was even better than I had imagined. I didn't realize how smoothly his show was filmed. Of all the shows I've been involved with, I regard it as the best reality show - the most "real." When you get there, he comes out in his denim shirt and pants (and I've seen this about a half dozen times) and welcomes the live audience to his show, giving them a chance to hug him, shake his hand, have a picture taken with him, etc. Then he goes backstage to change into his suit and tie. From the moment he steps out onto the stage in his suit, it's "game on," and they film it as if it were one show, with a few minor recordings at the end, without stopping and starting over. The opposite of this, in my experience, would be Steve-O's "Killer Karaoke." Steve-O is, as far as I'm concerned, too brain-damaged to be a TV show host. Also, Leno's band blew me away. I hadn't paid much attention to them when I'd seen them on TV for years. But, during Leno's "Tonight Show," they play entire musical numbers where the commercials are inserted, and they rock! They f****** rock! Leno is obviously in a position to hire the best, 'cause they are the best, and having them for his band is obviously no accident. Sometimes, listening to them, I found myself literally crying, they were so amazing! I don't even like going to live band performances, but these guys rule!
La Libertad: What are some of the low lights?
Vaughanster: New Year's Eve 2011-2012 was probably the lowest light, and it was my fault. I dropped my wife off at a private residence to belly dance for a New Year's Eve party performance for an hour. I went back to pick her up at 1 a.m., and kept honking the horn in the driveway, off and on for about a half hour. Then she called me to ask where I was, and I realized that I was at the wrong house. The house number was the same, but I was on the street a block south of where I was supposed to be. I'll never forgive myself for that. The guests had all left, and the wife left my wife alone with her husband while bidding her guests farewell and going to get my wife's money. My wife was obliged to wait for the man's wife, in order to get paid, which became an extremely uncomfortable situation for her. Since then, she doesn't do
gigs like that unless she gets at least half of the money in advance, and the rest before she performs. We also charge extra for evening gigs and holidays, and traveling more that 20 miles from home.
La Libertad: Any funny stories?
Vaughanster: It's funny how people find me and my wife so fascinating. When we cuddle on sets, people have a tendency to take pictures of us. Something else I found funny was when Ving Rhames complimented my wife on her hair, which was a huge mess, as we played zombies in
Nick Lyon's "Zombie Apocalypse 2012." Later, The Asylum published a picture of her online,
in her zombie attire and make-up, peering out from behind her long, black, curly, Negroid hair,
with a caption that read, "She Wants You!"
I suppose it's funny that I was repeatedly honking the horn in a stranger's driveway around one in the morning,
and the cops didn't show up, but I'm not laughing.
Something else that would be funny if it weren't so irritating, is how such stupid, ignorant people get ahead. Like Charlie Sheen, for example. A self-admitted, coke-snorting whoremonger, sets a Guinness Book of World Records record for his salary in television. Lindsay Lohan is also more marketable than me or my wife, but crashes her limo on her way to work, where the producers of the new, LifeTime movie about Elizabeth Taylor provide a limousine to take her to and from work. My wife looks more like a young Elizabeth Taylor, wouldn't need a limo, and has a better driving record!
Then there's a man named Gerald Webb, a casting director I met on the set of Zombie Apocalypse. He defriended me on FaceBook for touting my wife on his Wall, and calling him anally retentive. He sent me a nasty-gram, in which he called me "treasonist." How do you get to be a casting director when you don't know how to pronounce, let alone spell, "treasonous"?
Just like in the military, retards get ahead in entertainment.
La Libertad: What's it like being a conservative in a place as liberal as Hollywood?
Vaughanster: It sucks a lot of a**! It's really frustrating to see this economy going down the toilet,
and Californians re-electing god damn Democrats. We live in Hollywood, but we might as well live in
Central America, between the corruption and the government-induced poverty.
Our mayor looks and sounds, and, apparently, is as corrupt and retarded as the Dictator who became stranded on Gilligan's Island.
La Libertad: Do you think people hold your political affiliation against you?
Vaughanster: Yes, I do. I believe that that is a significant part of why Troy Metcalf (who plays Jim on "The Middle") fired me from the Donor Services Group, where my heart was obviously not in raising funds for Obama for America or the
Homo Rights Foundation.
La Libertad: Do you have any current, exciting projects?
Vaughanster: This question reminds me of another highlight of my entertainment career: Jeremy Rubin, the Director of Tied Up, and Alyse Wax, the Producer of "Big Brother," and a camera man and a sound woman, with two cars full of equipment, traveled about a hundred miles each way to interview me for a new TV show called "Z.A.S.K." (Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit), which they're trying to get aired. They wanted to interview a military subject matter expert, and felt I was qualified. My wife overheard the interview and saw the demo video months later, and tells me I did a great job, so we're hoping that show will get picked up and they'll have me back on as a semi-regular.
Some man named Saúl is trying to get me to compete on the Spanish version of "Minute to Win It!" Valerie Garza just texted my wife to say she's willing to compete as my partner, although her Spanish isn't fluent. My first choice for a partner would have been my wife, but she doesn't speak Spanish hardly at all.
"Chez Upshaw," starring Kevin Pollak, Molly Sims and Illeana Douglas, is coming out this year; it's the first thing I've been filmed for where I have a credit as someone with a fictional name, rather than "self," "audience member," etc. Bruce Mason, the Director (no, not the deceased director) had the Montage Guests select fictional names and places of origin for ourselves, for the purpose of signing the guestbook at Chez Upshaw, a bed-and-breadfast where our characters check in to punch out - sort of a Dr. Kevorkian theme...
I'm also currently listed as the only star on an upcoming TV show called "My Shopping Addiction," although my credit is as a "yard sale patron." Hilarious!
La Libertad: Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Vaughanster: Smoking a Black & Mild cigarillo and sipping Irish Creme on the balcony of a "new," two- or three-story home in Virginia.
La Libertad: Where do you see yourself in five years?
Vaughanster: Selling my current home in Lancaster, California, and looking for that "new" home in Virginia.
La Libertad: Where did your military career take you, around the world?
Vaughanster: My military career began at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, when I was a twelve-year old cadet in the Civial Air Patrol, an Auxiliary of the United States Air Force. That was about the time President Nixon was resigning. In the summer of 1985, I completed U.S. Marine Corps Boot Camp at M.C.R.D. [Marine Corps Recruiting Depot], San Diego. I was supposed to complete Infantry Training School at Camp Pendleton, California the following summer, but by then, General Gray, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, had released me to the Utah Army National Guard. For about six months, I served in the Marine Corps Infantry Reserve at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Utah Army National Guard at the Browning Armory in Ogden, Utah.
February 23, 1989, I entered U.S. Army Boot Camp at Fort Bliss, Texas, where I completed Advanced Individual/Initial Entry Training and became an Air Defender. From there I was stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, near Trier, West Germany. From there, the Army moved me to Fort Carson, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From there, I went to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and became an M.I. [Military Intelligence] weenie. My first assignment as an M.I. soldier was at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida. While stationed there, I served Temporary Duty in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After some Temporary Duty at Goodfellow Air Force Base, in San Angelo, Texas, I served three Consecutive Overseas Tours of Duty in South Korea, where I took the tour of Panmunjom, and stepped across the line into North Korea. That explains why I find Kim Jung-Il's character so hilarious in "Team America"!
After Korea, I served at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, which is where I was on September 11, 2001.
From there I moved to Fort Buchanan, at San Juan, Puerto Rico, for one year to the day, and then moved to Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio Texas.
Then the Army sent me to serve five years with the Tenth Mountain Light Infantry Division at Fort Drum, in Watertown, New York. I served with them in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then I returned to Fort Sam Houston to retire. The lightest duty I ever pulled, was in a civilian slot in Brownsville, Texas, where I was an on-call interpreter at the Ports of Entry on the Mexican border there.
La Libertad: How many months did you serve in "combat," in which conflicts/operations?
Vaughanster: I served approximately six months in Afghanistan, in Operation Enduring Freedom VII, and approximately a year in Iraq, in Operation Iraqi Freedom VI.
La Libertad: What medals did you receive?
Vaughanster: The highest medal I received was an Army Commendation Medal, which the Officer in Charge of my Section awarded me for my three years of service in Korea. I lost track of how many Army Achievement Medals I received. Luckily, I never received a Purple Heart - knock on wood! Knowing Murphy, they'll recall me and send me to [singing] Ira-an, to fight for my country, and kill for my la-and! [Laughs out loud...]
La Libertad: How much time did you "spend outside the wire"?
Vaughanster: Less than two, separate days. I went to two ranges - one, to qualify with my M16 rifle, and to another to pull physical security. As far as I know, I was never shot at directly, although a few indirect fire rounds landed at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan and Camp Victory, Iraq, while I was there, but I never saw or felt them; I just heard the alarms and hit the deck, but that was rare.
I still remember the first time I went "outside the wire," which was in October, 2006. As we left the wire, we received the order to "lock and load," and I realized that, if I received the order to "fire at will," I would be shooting at human beings, not just paper or fiber glass targets. That was a very odd feeling, and I'll never forget it. Luckily, I never received that order.
La Libertad: What were your worst and best travel experiences?
Vaughanster: Worst: Korea and France... I took a couple bus tours to Spain, where a Puerto Rican U.S. Airman introduced me to sangría, at a Paraguayan Bar in Lloret de Mar. On our way back through France, we stopped for lunch, and, before any of us could enter the restaurant, a manager came out and told us to get back on our bus, 'cause they weren't attending fifty Americans. That was circa 1990, and I never forgot.
Don't even get me started on Korea!
Best: The people in Australia, Thailand and Hispanic countries are extraordinarily friendly, but my best travel experiences have been on cruises with my wife!
My first cruise was for New Year's Eve, 2002-2003, on the Carnival Destiny, which departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and took me to Aruba, St. Thomas and Martinique. Overall, I enjoyed the cruise, but I was alone, and had a cheap room with no window, which was like a prison cell, so I decided to never make that mistake again!
For the other three cruises, I was with my wife, and we had a balcony, on the Carnivals Miracle, Destiny and Paradise. On the Carnival Destiny, we even had a jacuzzi tub, which was awesome! The first cruise we went on together took us to Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize, where I proposed to my wife. Our next cruise was a honeymoon cruise to Hell, Grand Cayman Island, and our last cruise was to Ensenada, Mexico, for New Year's Eve 2010-2011, and to celebrate my retirement from the U.S. Army.
www.vaughanster.com
Photo credit Libertad Green
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