Volunteers: Bryant Elder | Babelgum

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Volunteers: Bryant Elder

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Volunteers: Bryant Elder

[ 01:20 ]

AGE 35 HOMETOWN Pasadena, California BRANCH Marine Corps; Army National Guard/Staff Sergeant CURRENT OCCUPATION Pediatrics nurse NOTABLE SERVICE Istanbul, Turkey; Portugal; Spain; Australia; Iraq ENLISTED at 18 so that he could travel. Now that I served over in Iraq, I see America in a whole different light. I see my role differently too: to encourage young kids coming out of high school to go to college and try and use the military as a last resort. There is an old Marine Corps reserve center right next to our high school. So the Marine Corps recruiters were always there after basketball practice. So … you know. My mother didn't like it when I first joined, but my dad and two of his brothers served in the Air Force, so he was pleased with it. The military is selling a lot of educational programs and giving a lot of bonuses away. So you've got more kids coming in now for the college money, but they don't know that you're going to do a tour in Afghanistan or Iraq. There's no way around it. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:21

Volunteers: Herold Noel
AGE 27 HOMETOWN Brooklyn, New York BRANCH Army/Private First Class, 3rd Infantry Division CURRENT OCCUPATION Promoting When I Came Home, the award-winning documentary about the homelessness he endured after returning from service NOTABLE SERVICE Fueler during the March, 2003, invasion ENLISTED at 19 for a better way of life My experience in Iraq was basically horrifying. [The fuel truck] was basically like driving a bomb. It was the worst thing you could think about. My main objective for being over there—and for the guys I was around in my unit—was to watch each other's back, making sure they came back home alive to see their kids. The documentary When I Came Home is about my situation after I came back from Iraq: I was homeless for about eight months. There's no transitional housing for soldiers coming back home from lower [income] communities. They don't come back better than they left off, they come back worse. My view of America hasn't changed, it's my view of people in America that's changed. I love America, that's my home. I fought for it. America is more mine than anybody in this room, more than the President, cause I fought, I shed blood, I saw my friends get hurt, lose limbs, for this freakin' country. I came back—I'm alive, you know—and the system that I fought for didn't want to fight for me. My role in America is to fight for vets. Take a look at your life, ask yourself what a soldier means to you. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:15

Volunteers: Josh Henniger
AGE 25 HOMETOWN San Clemente, California BRANCH Marine Corps (pre-Iraqi Occupation); Army (Iraq)/Sergeant CURRENT OCCUPATION Student NOTABLE SERVICE Wounded in Iraq, 2005 ENLISTED at 17, on a whim I was wounded in action in December of 2005 [in Iraq] by an enemy mortar round. I was bitter about getting wounded and seeing my soldiers die. Eventually you have to move on because you just realize that if you’re pissed off all the time it’s not good for you. I’d just come out of the Marine Corps and 9/11 happened. Like everybody else, I wanted to go back now that there was a war on. It changes everything about you when you go to combat. I guess I have more of a sense of clarity and purpose in life now. I value and respect life a lot more now than I used to. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum’s GOOD

00:58

Volunteers: Megan O'Connor
AGE 31 HOMETOWN Venice, California BRANCH Army National Guard/Medical Service Corps Officer/Captain CURRENT OCCUPATION Graduate student of Chinese medicine, Yo San University NOTABLE SERVICE 50th Main Support Battalion of the New Jersey Army National Guard in Tikrit and Ramadi ENLISTED at 19 to pay for college I enjoyed the camaraderie of the National Guard, and the ability to serve my country while doing something that was meaningful and powerful. It wasn't what I was all about, it was just a little part of me. When anyone goes to a war zone, they don't come back the same person. It's hard to come back. I think there are so many people that are appreciative of the service of veterans, but there are also so many people that live their lives not realizing the magnitude of the sacrifice. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:25

Volunteers: Nicholas Rock
AGE 27 HOMETOWN Warwick, Rhode Island BRANCH Army/Staff Sergeant CURRENT OCCUPATION MFA student, graphic design, Yale NOTABLE SERVICE Helped reconstruct roads and schools in a Kurdish community ENLISTED at 19 out of a sense of duty and to pay for school You're told to go to war and you expect a certain thing and I think that I had actually a pretty amazing experience in just helping people. I didn't have to do a lot of fighting, which everybody else was doing. My political views changed as the war went on, the more we learned about what was actually happening. I'm a little bit torn still because I feel like what we were doing for the Kurdish people was actually a good thing. I feel like we still owe it to them not to leave it a mess over there. But I completely disagree with this whole political situation. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:39

Volunteers: Sean Huze
AGE 32 HOMETOWN Baton Rouge, Louisiana BRANCH Marine Corps/Infantry CURRENT OCCUPATION Actor and artistic director for the Vet Stage Foundation NOTABLE SERVICE March, 2003, initial invasion of Iraq ENLISTED September 12, 2001 My father was pretty upset [when I enlisted]. I was in L.A., pursuing an acting career. I had a few credits, had my SAG card, had an agent. As a father now, I can understand not wanting your child to do something that puts him in harm's way. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:07

Volunteers: Phillip Carter
AGE 31 HOMETOWN Santa Monica, California BRANCH Army/Captain CURRENT OCCUPATION Attorney NOTABLE SERVICE Served in Iraq from 2005 to 2006 with the Army's 101st Airborne Division ENLISTED on ROTC scholarship at UCLA At least back as far as my grandfather, all the men in my family have served. I might go back to Iraq at some point, maybe as a writer or a consultant for the State Department. If I could do it over again, I'd absolutely join. It was a very tough experience, but I feel like I got a lot more out of the Army than they got out of me. I would recommend it to others, but you have to know that if you sign up today you're going to war. After my service I see everything through a different lens. I focus a lot more on the human element of questions, like whether we should go to war. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:05

Volunteers: Baldwin Yen
AGE 28 HOMETOWN Atherton, California BRANCH Army Reserve/Forty-Six Romero (Broadcast Journalist) CURRENT OCCUPATION Video-game programmer NOTABLE SERVICE Part of the American Forces Network, a military broadcast network ENLISTED at 19 to fulfill a childhood dream I tried to enlist when I was 17, but, of course, at that point I needed my parents' permission. I kept asking them, the good Asian child that I am. When I was 19, I finally managed to enlist with their blessing. My mom decided to see a fortune teller, and he said I'd be all right. My job [was] sort of like what you see in Good Morning Vietnam or Full Metal Jacket. Going on raids in the middle of the night, or searching a village for weapons was appealing to me, it let me pretend I was in combat arms for a short bit. I got access that the civilian media wouldn't. How often do you see the story where the soldier is doing the good thing? We did that a lot over there. No one really takes notice and no one else really stops moving when you're out there. You go out, everyone's life changes; you come back, and things are different. As much as America disappoints me at times, and as much as there are things that I find extremely disagreeable, or I just may not approve of, I still think that America is a great country. And if I had to do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

01:02

Volunteers: George Robert
AGE 26 HOMETOWN East Los Angeles, California BRANCH Army CURRENT OCCUPATION Construction worker NOTABLE SERVICE Served 14 consecutive months in Iraq ENLISTED at 17 to get insurance for his child Going to Iraq was scary at first. And then you know, the military kicks in, and you think about everything that you've learned and it's time to go. You get back here and people just want to talk about [whether] you think Bush is doing the right thing. And they start hounding you instead of just leaving you alone. We don't really want to talk about it if we're not there anymore. I don't see my role in America any differently than before I left. I knew what I was signing up for. They called me up and I went. I'm more grateful for the things that we do have, being over there and seeing what they have over there—really nothing—then coming over here and seeing how much we take for granted.

01:03

Volunteers: Paul McQuigg
AGE 30 HOMETOWN Western Springs, Illinois BRANCH Marine Corps/Amphibious Assault Crewman, Vehicle Commander CURRENT OCCUPATION On third enlistment; student of criminal justice and general studies NOTABLE SERVICE Wounded in Iraq, 2006 ENLISTED at 20, having wanted to since age 12 "I was out on patrol on a mission with my marines and my vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. I'm still in the recovery phase, and this is where you see me right now." On my father's side, I can trace my family history [of military service] back to the Civil War, on the side of the Union. It's hard to take night classes in the middle of Iraq, trying to write a term paper while you're taking fire from some AK-47. For more content from this Branded Channel, check out Babelgum's GOOD

34:57

Reporting For Duty
Produced by Film@11.tv, Israeli filmmaker Michal Zilberman's Reporting For Duty examines the lives and thoughts of three members of Israel's IDF reserve forces who served in the 2006 Lebanon War. Profoundly affected by their experiences, the three soldiers must reevaluate the reasons for going to war, and what exactly duty to one's country means.

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