Air Force veteran Adrienne Borghoff tells Tango Alpha Lima podcast listeners how she is combining her love for acting and storytelling, and time in Iraq and Afghanistan, in her new play “No Missions.”
Adrienne Borghoff wanted to leave her quiet hometown in southern Illinois to explore the world. She accomplished that desire by following in her family’s footsteps and joined the Air Force as a broadcast journalist – a fit that seemed natural since she loved theater and performing. Her 14-year-career in the military stationed her in Korea, Iceland and Italy, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a combat photographer.
Borghoff became the only member in her family to serve in a war zone where she documented missions, humanitarian work, graduations and everyday experiences of servicemembers. Now, as an actor, storyteller and creator, Borghoff helps others understand the military experience through the arts.
Borghoff is the special guest on this week’s Tango Alpha Lima podcast where she shares about her new play “No Missions.”
“I have been trying to work on this play about my experiences for a long time,” Borghoff said. “Because they say write what you know. Like no one knows it better than you. No one knows your experience better than you. No one else is going to tell it.”
After leaving the military, Borghoff moved to New York City where she earned degrees in acting and theater studies, worked for CBS's “48 Hours,” and most recently created content for HBO and Max through Warner Brothers Discovery.
But her transition from the military to civilian world wasn’t seamless.
“I think that the transition from service into civilian life is really freaking difficult. And there is no amount of training or conversations that you can have with people that will fully prepare you for that transition,” Borghoff said. “I think I'm still trying to make that transition to like really being settled in in a position in employment in the world.”
Borghoff’s military career in radio and intelligence broadcasting helped launch her acting and storytelling career in New York City as it gave her knowledge in interviewing, scripting, editing, and distributing content across media platforms.
“I'm still using those skills today,” she said.
Her storytelling is inspired by the missions she shared alongside infantry units conducting humanitarian efforts, performances on base by country music artists like Montgomery Gentry, or whatever opportunity she could find to tell the story of American servicemembers deployed.
“I always tell people that I was very lucky on my deployments that any time I went out outside the wire on a mission with the with the infantry or with PSYOPs or any other organization, I always came back with all my bullets and no one got hurt, which is incredibly lucky,” Borghoff said. “I had really great people who were on the teams with me that were always looking out for me.”
Borghoff has a few scenes written so far of “No Missions,” a play about two women in the military which she said you often don’t see in theater.
“I've tried to put my thoughts on paper before. Like I said, it can be really hard to get out what you're thinking because you lived it. You're a little too close to it.”
“No Missions” took shape following a class Borghoff had at the Public Theater in New York City on writing about conflict between two people.
“What is that conflict? What is the conflict in your past that can help you just write something down on paper?” she said. “Because if you don't have something down on paper, then you can't edit it and you can't shape it. It just exists in your head, and you don't have anything. It hasn't gone anywhere. So you've got to start someplace.”
“No Missions” is a play about a combat videographer and a combat photographer who do not have any missions that day and are bored. They banter back and forth about what to do, with no one agreeing on the same thing. The conflict becomes who gets what they want.
Listen to the podcast episode to hear more about the play, why Borghoff joined the Air Force, her time documenting missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how acting and the Air Force are alike.
Also in this episode, co-hosts Adam Marr and Stacy Pearsall:
· Tell the story of the extraordinary courage of a 20-year-old Marine combat photographer in the Vietnam War who made a split-second decision that would save the lives of three Marines and earn him the Medal of Honor, posthumously.
· Dive into how military service has shaped some of the greatest storytellers in modern history. Think “Platoon,” “Training Day,” “Fury,” “The Godfather” and “Twilight Zone.”
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- Tango Alpha Lima