Download PDF of this full issue: v41n2.pdf (26.6 MB)

Where Soldiers Come From

By Thomas Brinson (reviewer)

Where Soldiers Come From
Heather Courtney
(wheresoldierscomefrom.com; 2011)

I recently led a Q&A session in Manhattan after a showing of the moving and perceptive documentary film, Where Soldiers Come From. Set in her small hometown of Hancock on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the film by Heather Courtney is a poignant coming of age tale about three young friends, Dom, Cole and Bodi, who are transformed from teenage high school buddies into hardened veterans of the Afghanistan War. The film focuses not only upon the three young soldiers, but most adeptly shows the incredible cost and stress of war upon families within small-town communities.

Coming from an economically deprived area, enticed by the Army's $20,000 signing bonus and the promise of GI Bill benefits for college, the three lifelong high school buddies along with several other friends join an Engineer Battalion in the Michigan National Guard. They are stationed at Camp Salerno, where their task is to clear IEDs from mountainous roads near the Pakistan border. The film deftly intermingles interviews of the three young soldiers and their family members with scenes portraying their day-to-day life and struggles, both in Afghanistan and back in Hancock. Nevertheless, this is not a political film — Ms. Courtney's camera simply lets the subjects show their stories.

One of the three soldiers, Dom, is an accomplished urban (aka graffiti) artist. During the first part of the film he is shown designing and creating with his friends, just before they depart for Afghanistan, a mural symbolizing their deployment. The setting where they do this is an abandoned copper factory. One of the most poignant scenes Ms. Courtney records is the visit of his girlfriend, Ashley, by herself to the mural while he is deployed.

Though there are considerable differences, I was struck by how similar were the experiences of these young veterans with us much older veterans of the Vietnam generation of soldiers. We both soon became disillusioned with our war effort, using caustic foxhole humor to survive and maintain some sense of balance among ourselves. One major difference, however, is the homecoming experience. Whereas my generation of soldiers mostly went to war alone and came home by ourselves, the current generation of war fighters are deployed as a unit and come home together. The whole town of Hancock turns out for a Welcome Home parade and celebration at the National Guard Amory. Too soon, however, the sheen of the hero's welcome diminishes, and the reality of readjustment difficulties begins to manifest.

Of the three, Dom's readjustment seems to be most successful, perhaps due to his urban art serving as a productive means of dealing with his experience. The film ends showing him completing another large graffiti mural on the back of a building at his college, adroitly assisted by his Asian art instructor. Nevertheless, he is also shown as being extremely irritable, and short-tempered, which negatively impacts his relationship with Ashley, especially when drinking. Like veterans of any combat, he most likely shall never fully forget, nor get over his experience of combat.

Cole, on the other hand, experiences difficulties with the VA bureaucracy that lost his paperwork. He is now responsible for paying back a $3,800 charge for college tuition, since the VA did not pay the college. Additionally, he suffers from an unknown stomach ailment, possibly ulcers. Bodi has been diagnosed with the signature wound of the Afghanistan war, TBI, from the numerous concussions he experienced from IED explosions. He is especially sardonic and bitter, expressing how much he hates his experience of American war fighting in Afghanistan. Chances are good that one or both of them may re-enlist and be deployed again despite current disdain for their experience in Afghanistan.

This is a must-see film for anyone who is concerned about our nation's current penchant for endless war. A decade after 9/11 the likelihood of peace seems increasingly unlikely, since the vast majority of citizens are not directly impacted by expanding wars the US wages throughout the world. Ms. Courtney's poignant and sensitive film exemplarily depicts how war impacts the mostly forgotten underclass of American society. I suppose that this is the way it has always been throughout history — underprivileged persons share the burden of fighting and are most affected by wars elites of every civilization have waged primarily for their gain and profit.

The film is presently being shown in selected theatres throughout the country and will be premiered on PBS stations P.O.V. television program on November 10th — check local listings for specific dates and times.

Thomas Brinson has been an ardent peace activist since he flew back from Vietnam. He is a member of VVAW.