Iraq Vets Making the Scene at Sundance

Don't look now, but the Iraq War Veterans' Movement could be coming to a theater near you. I'm here in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival with four other Veterans of the Iraq War. We're here for the premier of a stunning new documentary, "The Ground Truth," which exposes the struggles faced by this new generation of Troops as they come home from war.

Our organization, IAVA: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, has been working with Director Patricia Foulkrod for almost two years as she tracks the hurdles and the heartbreak that come with fighting, killing, and watching your friends die, then trying to return home to a normal life. Too often that story does not have a happy ending, as we saw last week with the tragic death of Douglas Barber, a young Iraq War Veteran who lost his battle with the war's psychological toll.

The film premiered to rave reviews last night, and the presence of young Veterans at a glitzy film festival has not gone unnoticed. This morning we woke up to a front-page story in the Park City newspaper about the Veterans' trip to Sundance, right beside articles about Robert Redford and Tony Kushner. This is a good sign -- during the biggest film festival of the year, the war and the Veterans' movement are still important enough to make the front page.

But despite the positive reaction to the film, there is no guarantee that it will ever see wide distribution in a country that is comfortable with the Hollywood blockbuster and not much else. During a Q&A after the premier last night, Iraq Veteran and IAVA member Herold Noel made a good point: "How is it that a movie about Penguins can make $500 million, and a movie about the men and women we send to war might not ever catch on?"

So we're all here at Sundance to help it catch on. From the beginning, it's been clear that this new generation of Veterans would have to work a little harder, and a little smarter, to make our voices heard. Less than one-percent of the American public is personally invested in this war, compared with the 12-percent during WWII. Telling our stories on film is one great way to make an impact and raise awareness. Hitting the streets anywhere there are TV cameras and reporters is another. But we need your help as well. Call your local paper or TV station and tell them to run more stories about the hurdles facing this latest generation of Veterans. You don't need to be a Veteran to be part of the Veterans' movement. Find ways to see important films like "The Ground Truth", write your legislators and urge them to make the 500,000-and-counting Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan more of a priority, and reach out to Veterans in your community whenever possible to make sure they are receiving the support they need.

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