Pass em On and Help a Marine
Andrew Klavan ·
Apr 11, 2011 at 4:53pm
Here are a couple of star-studded and very moving Public Service Announcements - beautifully written and directed by my friend Jonathan Flora - urging marines and their families to get help if post-service distress is pushing them toward self-destruction. I've never been in combat but I have been to the edge, and I can testify: a life more beautiful than you even dare to hope for may be waiting for you if you reach out and get help. I know I speak for a lot of Ricocheteers when I say: We love our defenders so much and are so grateful to them, we don't want to lose a single one, over there or here. Watch the vids and pass them around.
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Comments :
Sep '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Thanks for posting this, Andrew. I hope there is a similar outreach for Army veterans, too. Many of my students served--or are serving--in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I think of them often.
Jun '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Clay Hunt, a Marine, took his own life on 31 March 2011.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=clay-hunt&pid=149856681&fhid=6290
Clay was in the forefront of the anti-suicide fight, serving as something of a poster child for those who needed help. But for all his efforts, for all his courage and determination, he could not save himself. If you need help, if you think someone else needs help, reach out. We don't need to lose anyone else.
Sep '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Wow. Just Wow.
May '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Yes! Oh, yes, yes yes! We do love our military personnel and want them to get help when they need it!
Jun '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
I really like the Sinise one. He's a decent guy.
May '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Indeed, things can change for you, me or anyone. It is not easy-- in many cases it is very hard. But the only time hope is lost for this life is when we are dead.
Half the battle, though, is getting yourself to really, truly believe that change is possible.
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Those of us on the side of individual initiative may have a tendency to be a little too skeptical when it comes to psychological ailments. I know I've been guilty of it. But as someone who's witnessed a loved one deal with the horrors that all too often accompany a life lived in service, my thanks goes out to the folks behind these videos. And my heart goes out to all those who suffer this trauma. If you think someone you know may be one of them, reach out. Today is never too late. Tomorrow could be.
Jul '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Having spent a pivotal year of my life tending to a brother who came back from Vietnam, wounded and suffering the throes of trauma-induced mental illness, only to see him put the barrel of a hunting rifle to his head and pull the trigger, I'd have to say the psychological ailments are quite, quite real.
Hopefully, efforts like this will help others to escape his fate.
Jun '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Very nice. We have a whole new generation in this situation now, so we gotta help them out. We've learned a lot since Vietnam. Just not calling them "baby killers" is a big step forward. We need to do more.
As a side note, I'm a complete celebrity dolt, so I only recognized one of the women in the second video, the Everybody Loves Raymond woman. Who are the rest?
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Well, of course, you recognize the wonderful Gary Sinise in the first video. The ladies in the second video are: Emmy Award winner Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, The Middle), Angie Harmon (Law & Order, Rizzoli & Isles), American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee, Jaime King (Pearl Harbor, Sin City), Tamera Mowry (Sister, Sister), Lacey Chabert (Party of Five, Lost In Space, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Kristy Swanson (original Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Leeann Tweeden (Model and Fox's Best Damn Sports Show Period).
Jun '10
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Andrew Klavan
Well, of course, you recognize the wonderful Gary Sinise in the first video. The ladies in the second video are: Emmy Award winner Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, The Middle), Angie Harmon (Law & Order, Rizzoli & Isles), American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee, Jaime King (Pearl Harbor, Sin City), Tamera Mowry (Sister, Sister), Lacey Chabert (Party of Five, Lost In Space, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Kristy Swanson (original Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Leeann Tweeden (Model and Fox's Best Damn Sports Show Period). · Apr 11 at 11:25pm
Yeah. Angie Harmon (from her Law & Order days) is the only actress whose face I recognized in the video, and the only name in the list above I recognize. You're not alone, Dave.
Re: Pass em On and Help a Marine
Too true, Kenneth, and I hope you didn't mistake my original point, which was that, in this age of psychological overdiagnosis, PTSD should never be lumped in with the numerous psuedo-afflictions that dominate pop psychology. Those of us who have seen it up close know that it is all too real.
Kenneth
Having spent a pivotal year of my life tending to a brother who came back from Vietnam, wounded and suffering the throes of trauma-induced mental illness, only to see him put the barrel of a hunting rifle to his head and pull the trigger, I'd have to say the psychological ailments are quite, quite real.
Hopefully, efforts like this will help others to escape his fate. · Apr 11 at 9:18pm