Jesus... How Did I Miss THIS ??? 'When I Came Home' - Film On Homeless Iraqi Vets (Trailer Here)

[WillyT]

WHEN I CAME HOME



When I Came Home is a documentary film about homeless veterans in America: from those who served in Vietnam to those returning from the current war in Iraq. The film looks at the challenges faced by returning combat veterans and the battle many must fight to receive their benefits from the Veterans Administration.

Through the story of Herold Noel, a homeless Iraq war veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and living out of his car in Brooklyn, the film reveals a failing system and the veteran’s struggle to survive after returning from the war. When I Came Home follows Herold’s battle with homelessness and PTSD as he tries to get help from the VA, city agencies, and various veterans organizations.

With temperatures dropping in New York, Herold meets fellow vet Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the country’s largest Iraq veteran advocacy organization. What follows is a media blitz that transforms the young, homeless veteran into the leader of a new movement.

Link: http://www.whenicamehome.com/

:cry:

[Unreconstructed Lib]

1. Wow. Kicked and recommended.

[EFerrari]

2. I cannot watch this but can rec and kick.

:nuke:

[Cha]

3. I'm so ecstatic that people like Dan Haus

are making Docs like these to help our Soldiers when the bushits are ignoring them completely except for the occasional photo op of course.

"I think it was Friday Jan 21st that Paul Rieckhoff from Operation Truth called me and said that he had just gotten off the phone with an anonymous donor who wanted to pay the rent for Herold and his family for a year.

After our experience with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy – who had called earlier that week saying that they were interested in helping Herold and then (I guess) decided not to and never called back – we couldn’t get too excited. Herold kept telling me, I’ll be excited when I turn a key.

Paul coordinated with the great people at Common Ground (www.commonground.org), who coordinated with the donor and within a week Herold WAS turning the key and finally moving his family into his own place.

When he walked into his new bedroom, Herold dropped to the ground and just laid there and took it all in. It kind of reminded me of the footage I’ve seen of Vietnam Vets who got off the plane and kissed the tarmac.

When Herold got up he said something like – “Eight months… it took me eight months of fighting to get this… it shouldn’t have to take that long”.

Andrew Stern, an incredible photo-journalist who has been following Herold from the start, wrote a great article about this:

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/140277/index.php

A thousand Thank You’s to the anonymous donor, to Operation Truth, Common Ground and to everyone who wrote Herold and sent donations.

That night Herold told me, “I’m going to keep doing press and speaking out but it’s not about me anymore – it’s about the soldiers coming home behind me now. No one else should have to go through what i just went through…”

http://www.gnn.tv/users/user.php?id=5199

[WillyT]

4. Me Too zidzi, Me Too !!!

I still can't believe I missed this when it came out. Glad I found it though!

:hi: