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In 2008, John composed and recorded the song “Brothers in Arms” for Jake Rademacher’s award winning documentary, Brothers at War.  He is also the one responsible for putting together CD for the Troops which is currently in its third incarnation.

This last weekend, I went to see the The Blind Side and, as the credits rolled on this wonderfully uplifting film, I heard a very familiar voice and smiled.  It’s Five for Fighting’s single, “Chances”, that plays at the end of the film.  I decided to reconnect with John, ask him about his new album, Slice, about the tour and find out a little bit about what makes this guy tick.  He was kind enough to play along.

J.R. Head:  John, it’s great to talk to you again. Thanks for taking some time to chat with me.

John Ondrasik:  My pleasure.

JRH:  You’ve been a supporter of first responders and our military as long as I’ve known you.  Did that start with The Concert for New York City or does it go back further?

JO:  I’ve always had great respect for our emergency workers but since the concert for N.Y., I’ve had the opportunity to get up close and spend time with firefighters, police officers, and first responders across the country.  These are great folks who do more than just protect us every day.  The firefighters do amazing work for the MDA and we’re just getting ready to launch Crime Stoppers with the L.A.P.D.

The same goes for the military.  Though I have no military in my family I’ve always appreciated the American soldier.  When the war started in Afghanistan I started receiving e-mails from troops on the ground that were listening to my music.  That began various correspondences that continue to this day.  I started working with the USO, which guaranteed many post gig, over a beer, conversations.  This time with our soldiers has only validated my initial sentiments.  From the 18-year old National Guardsman down in GTMO to the Medal of Honor Recipient, these people continue to astound me daily with their courage and humility.  The only people I hold in higher esteem are their families, who are the backbone of our freedom.

JRH:  Many of your songs deal with those themes.  I know that the song “Two Lights”, off the album of the same name, has a very interesting story.  Would you share it with my readers?

JO:  Believe it or not, I was with a buddy up in No Cal who asked me if I’d like to go hang with Victor Davis Hanson.  We met in a coffee shop, (I had a smoothie) and after a chat VDH invited us to have lunch with a former student who was shipping out to Iraq that week and the student’s Vietnam vet father.  Spending time with the Dad gave me an insight into both the pride and fear parents have for their kids going to war.  I tried to reflect that reality in “Two Lights”.

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JRH:  Also on that album was “Freedom Never Cries”.  You made a video for the song to benefit Operation Home Front.  It’s got close to a million hits at your charity site.  How did that come about?

JO:  Triwest Health Care was doing a Gala honoring Medal of Honor recipients and their CEO Dave McIntyre had seen the reaction to “Freedom Never Cries” at a few USO gigs.  They asked if they could make a video for the Gala and I jumped at the chance.  They did a fantastic job and allowed me to post the video on whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com for Operation Home Front and Fisher House.  I get a kick that that video has more views than all the Five For Fighting videos put together.  Don’t tell the record company.

JRH:  CD for the Troops has been a huge success.  It’s amazing that you were able to get so many great artists from across the musical and political spectrum to contribute their music for our men and women in uniform.  Who is on the latest one?  What’s next for this venture?

JO:  I’m thrilled with the line up for the CD for the Troops III (Stand up for Troops).  This year I decided to mix it up and reach out to comedians.  Check out this line up…

Chris Rock, Dennis Miller, Adam Sandler, Jeff Foxworthy, Ray Romano, Dana Carvey, Matt Iseman, Kevin Nealon, Kevin James, and more…

The bits are hilarious!  It took a bit of creative editing to get it through the military firewall, though. (laughs)

It’s been rewarding to see all the artists over the years contribute their work for free to a project that is apolitical and a simple thank you to our troops and their families.

JRH:  Military personnel can download the album, right?

JO:  As always the CD for the Troops is free for all military members at AAFES.COM and 200,000 hard CD’s will go overseas to theatre and military hospitals.

JRH:  That’s awesome.  Now, “Brothers in Arms” was written specifically for Jake Rademacher’s film, Brothers at War.  I think I heard you wrote that in, like, five minutes or something?

JO:  I wish all songs came that fast.  I saw Brothers at War in an early incarnation.  I was inspired, went home and wrote and recorded a demo that night.  A few months went by and I happened to play it for Gary Sinise as he’d invited me to the screening.  Fast-forward and that demo (with a few strings added) became the end title for Jake’s film; an honest look at the military family.

JRH:  I think Hollywood missed a great opportunity this Oscar season.  I haven’t seen all the films or heard all the songs that are presently in the running but, if they wanted to win back a portion of the conservative audience, a nomination for either Jake’s film or your song would certainly have gotten some folks on the right to watch.

JO:  Ha.  Don’t get your hopes up.

JRH:  I just saw The Blind Side and really enjoyed it.  It was great to hear “Chances” come rolling out of those speakers as the movie ended.  Did you write that song specifically for the film or was that deal done later?

JO:  Nope, “Chances” is the first single off the new Slice record.  It was actually bouncing around a few films and I’m pleased, as a sports nut, that it landed in The Blind Side.

JRH:  There’s a song on Slice called “Note to the Unknown Soldier”.  Tell me a bit about that.

JO:  That song on it’s surface is a letter of appreciation to all American soldiers, past, present, and future.  Subtler, is the arc of awakening to that realization, as the tone gets more serious as the lyric moves forward.  I’m hoping that reflects itself in the culture.

JRH:  And what about “Tuesday”; a song about 9/11, right?

JO:  As you know 9/11 occurred on a Tuesday and the song is a plea to not forget the lessons learned in the 9/11 attack.  I wrote the song over 2 years ago and unfortunately I think some of my concerns have been realized.  With the upcoming trial of KSM and the country wavering on finishing the job in Afghanistan, I fear Monday is upon us.

JRH:  I’m sorry to say, I agree.  So, what’s next?  Any plans to head out to visit our troops?

JO:  This year’s been crazy with the new record and touring so I’m going to take a little Daddy time early 2010, do a spring Five For Fighting tour, and then I’m sure we’ll do some USO shows around the globe.

JRH:  John, thanks for spending some time with me.  I truly appreciate all you do for my brothers and sisters that are out there, fighting the good fight.

JO:  Team effort.

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Semper fidelis,

J.R. Head

With all the unpleasantness that’s been in the news lately (ACORN, Polanski, Jaycee Lee Dugard, etc.), I was reminded of a book titled “The Last Undercover” by my friend, fellow Marine, and Big Hollywood contributor, Bob Hamer.  Bob spent twenty-six years in the FBI, all as a special agent working the streets, many of those years in an undercover capacity. He was the undercover agent in twenty administratively approved operations. Some of those assignments lasted a day or two others more than three years. He played such diverse roles as a drug dealer, contract killer, international arms merchant, degenerate gambler, and white collar criminal. By his own admission his most difficult role was playing a pedophile for three years as he infiltrated the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).

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First, let me say that “The Last Undercover” is absolutely riveting.  Seeing inside an organization like NAMBLA, one that preys on children, through Bob’s eyes is enough to keep you up at night.  However, as things have transpired over the last few weeks, I couldn’t help but wonder about the people on the periphery of such groups and individuals.  For instance, I remembered the travel agent in Bob’s book that was more than happy to set up the NAMBLA members’ trip to have sex with children.  Sure, he didn’t have sex with kids but, if he could make a few bucks off of others doing it, he was pretty okay with the idea.  How about the lovely folks at ACORN?  Setting up a brothel for underage prostitutes?  Okay, let’s figure out the tax ramifications for such a venture.  Then, of course, we have the folks that are defending the talented Mr. Polanski.

So, what is it with these people?  Why the indifference to the idea of adults having sex with children? In what universe is this behavior acceptable?

I decided to talk to my buddy, Bob, to get his take on it.

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J.R. Head:  Bob, you spent a lot of time and energy taking down the folks at NAMBLA.  As a father, hell, as a human being, I’d like to thank you for that.  Right now, though, I’m trying to look at the bigger picture.  What are your thoughts about these folks on the periphery of such activity, the facilitators and enablers of sex with children?

Bob Hamer:  Wow!  No softball questions from you right out of the chute.

JRH:  Not today.

BH:  Well, I have never met a capitalist pacifist who owned gun store.  I believe fundamentally, the pacifist does not want to encourage what he perceives as a potential for violence, even if it might be profitable to own a gun store.  I’m a gun owner so don’t jump on me for that illustration but those I met while working undercover who helped facilitate sex with children saw nothing wrong with what they believed to be “consensual” sex with a child.  In fact, most believed an “enlightened” society would see the benefits of encouraging sex between consenting individuals of any age.  No one satisfactorily identified to me what those benefits were but “boy-lovers” as NAMBLA members refer to themselves often cite the ancient Greeks as an enlightened society.  The travel agent had no objection to putting together overseas trips even though he claimed not to be sexually attracted to boys.

JRH:  So, it was about the money?

BH: Certainly there was a profit motive for him but he saw nothing wrong with men having sex with boys and told me so.  Had he found the actions abhorrent I would hope he would never facilitate such conduct.

A Chicago psychologist we arrested who had a PhD told me of seeing a five-year-old operating out of a boy-bar in Thailand.  The psychologist said he did not have sex with that particular boy because the child “didn’t do anything for me, but I can’t be…a hypocrite and say, you know, ‘don’t do that…’” The psychologist told me his age of preference was “ten to twelve” and saw nothing wrong with his conduct. In fact, he bragged about his conquests.

JRH:  So, in his mind, having sex with kids is okay but God forbid he gets called a hypocrite.  Those are some messed up priorities, man.  Give me some info on NAMBLA.  What’s their story?

BH:  NAMBLA was formed in 1978.  Ostensibly its purpose was to abolish age-of-consent laws.  As my three-year infiltration demonstrated, the organization made no effort whatsoever to change the law.  Its sole purpose was to allow like-minded men, sexually attracted to boys, to legally congregate under the protection of the 1^st Amendment.  Even their definition of “consensual” differed from mine and I hope all of our readers.  They essentially defined “consensual” as “not bringing physical harm.”  I sat through a discussion where men believed it permissible to have oral sex with an eighteen-month-old boy as long as the boy wasn’t physically harmed.

JRH:  You’re kidding me.  How the hell do they justify that?

BH:  They justified the action because a child, while exploring his own body, might like the gentle touch of fondling himself.  Since the men believed they were in essence bringing pleasure to the child, their actions were permissible, even proper.  When that is your worldview, when you support men who believe those actions to be proper, it is easy to justify a lot of actions the rest of society deems illegal, even evil.

Most NAMBLA members with whom I interacted believe the boy-lover philosophy will be mainstreamed within their lifetimes.  I would have never thought that even remotely possible until recently.

JRH:  That’s the vibe I’ve been getting lately, too.  While reading “The Last Undercover,” I was filled with feelings of revulsion and anger about what these predators do.  I was especially disturbed to hear how they “profile” their potential prey and engage in the “grooming” of the target and the target’s family.  On the other hand, an understanding that the vast majority of people in the country would feel the same way about it comforted me.  However, the Polanski situation has kind of made me reevaluate my worldview.  Is the moral outrage over having sex with children eroding before our very eyes?

BH:  After investigating organized crime, drugs, terrorism, and child exploitation for two and a half decades, little shocks me but I am appalled at the Roman Polanski apologists.  Since when does being a “brilliant, fantastic genius” excuse anyone from heinous criminal conduct?  He admitted guilt.  He drugged, raped, and sodomized a thirteen-year-old girl.  Are we to excuse him only because his talent brought him riches and therefore he was wealthy enough to flee punishment?  Does Hollywood creativity allow one an alternative moral universe?

Whoopi Goldberg said on The View it wasn’t “rape-rape.”  No, it was non-consensual anal intercourse of a child.  Are we so perverted we will excuse such conduct because the perpetrator is an “artist?”  How can any parent or a person with a conscience condone such behavior?  Imagine the outrage of these same apologists had this been a TV evangelist or a priest.

I admire the victim who has forgiven Polanski but criminal charges are brought by the state.  A criminal indictment does not read “victim vs. defendant.”  It is the state or the federal government versus the accused.  Society is harmed by criminal conduct.  Apparently Polanski’s harm was greater than I first thought and not just to the child victim. It has infected a certain segment of society which condones the behavior and believes he should go unpunished.  Read the charges!  Read his admissions!  He deserves to be punished.

Polanski’s status as a Holocaust survivor has been cited as a reason excusing his criminal actions. As horrible as that experience must have been I can’t help but remember another survivor, Tibor Rubin. He wanted to pay back America for liberating him from the Mauthausen concentration camp in May 1945. Rubin joined the Army, fought in Korea, and was awarded the Medal of Honor.

JRH:  I’ve met Mr. Rubin.  He struck me as an extremely humble and unassuming man.  He has an incredible story and I encourage my readers to look him up on the web.  That being said, Polanski is just one part of this.  The folks at ACORN who turned a blind eye to what they believed to be a brothel for child prostitutes also bothered me.  Now, I’m hearing about this Jennings fellow.  Do you have any insight into that?

BH:  Kevin Jennings is President Obama’s Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education.  His history and beliefs are well documented in the numerous books he has authored and edited.  There is some dispute as to the legality of his conduct while working as a teacher but by Jennings’ own admission the only counseling he gave a male high school student, who admitted having sex with a man he met in a public restroom, was to use a condom.  Jennings also has high praise for Harry Hay.  If NAMBLA had a Hall of Fame, Hay would be a member.  Hay fought for NAMBLA’s inclusion in the International Lesbian and Gay Association and once carried a sign proclaiming “NAMBLA Walks With Me.”  Although Hay died before I was invited to attend any of NAMBLA’s secret, underground meetings, Hay was a featured speaker at several NAMBLA conferences and at forums on man/boy love.  When members of the Administration admit to admiring a NAMBLA icon it gives me cause for concern and is at the very least a reason for further inquiry.

JRH:  I agree.  Do you feel like this is part of an inevitable coarsening of society in regards to the sexualization of children?

BH: What struck me about NAMBLA was how many men I encountered were high functioning members of our society…doctors, lawyers, ministers, teachers.  Yet these men looked upon boys as sexual objects and had no desire to change their behavior.  In the case of Polanski, “artists” are apologists for child rape.  As to ACORN, let me say I have the highest regard for the work of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles.  The ACORN tapes reinforce the idea that a segment of this society is unable to discern evil.  How can you label oral sex on infants or rape of a thirteen-year-old girl or promoting childhood prostitution as anything but evil?  We as a society must remain vigilant and maintain our moral compass.  I fear too many have lost theirs or never had one.

JRH:  I fear you may be right.  Thank you, Bob, for your service, your courage and for taking some time to talk with me, today.

On Saturday, October 3rd, a fantastic new show premieres on ESPN2.

“Grateful Nation is a unique and compelling outdoor adventure series that goes behind the scenes and into the field with American Veterans. Hosted by Airborne Ranger Tim Abell, this original unscripted program takes viewers inside the minds of wounded combat veterans and returns them to their traditional American hunting heritage.

Tim’s innovative interviewing strategy together with stunning HD videography launches Grateful Nation into a unique category that captures a whole new audience of sportsmen and patriots.”

The first episode of “Grateful Nation” follows actor and Army Veteran Tim Abell and Army Sergeant First Class Greg Stube on the hunt of a lifetime.

I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with SFC Greg Stube via telephone and was immediately struck by his eloquence.  Greg has the unusual ability to talk about enormous concepts on a very small and personal level.  I sometimes find it difficult to speak clearly about the ideas of duty and sacrifice.  SFC Stube speaks of such things with deep understanding and with perfect clarity.  He learned first hand and up close what these concepts are all about.

From his bio:

In September of 2006, SFC Stube was very seriously wounded during Operation Medusa in Afghanistan.

On a hill called Sperwan Ghar, in southwest Afghanistan, Stube and fellow Special Forces team members were involved in a massive attack by enemy Taliban forces that had dug in, waiting for a fight.  As his fighting vehicle moved up the hill, days after the fighting had begun; it was hit by an IED – seriously wounding Stube.  Focusing on his wounds and pulling from his Special Forces medical training, Stube guided other SF A-team members in combat trauma care until he was moved out of danger.  His awards include the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.  Currently assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office, Stube continues to serve within his capabilities to promote awareness of the commitment and sacrifice of American service members and their families.  In a program called “Service Beyond Sacrifice,” Stube endeavors to relate to Americans about why service to our country is not only important, but worth sacrificing for.

I’ve known the host of “Grateful Nation,”  Tim Abell, for a few years.  He is a veteran, an accomplished actor and an avid outdoorsman who shares a deep appreciation for the men and women who serve our country.  I’m proud to call him my friend.  He agreed to answer some questions about the show.

J.R. Head: Tim, tell me about “Grateful Nation.”

Tim Abell:  ”Grateful Nation” is a series that delves into the life, service, sacrifice and rehabilitation of our servicemen wounded in the global war on terror. We explore their life while afield, a place where many of them grew up hunting with their fathers and a place many thought they would never again experience after being severely wounded in combat. We also explore their support system back home. From their moms, dads, wives and children to their doctors, nurses, teammates and fellow wounded.

JRH:  How did you get involved with the show?

TA:  SFC Stube was asked to speak at the 2008 National Rifle Association convention along with Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain, Governor Mike Huckabee, and former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.  SFC Stube, so inspired the audience with his words that Beretta General Manager, Christopher Merritt and Mark De Young, President of ATK/Federal, along with Chris Dorsey, President of Orion Multimedia, decided to create a series to honor our wounded warriors and allow their stories to be told.

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SFC Stube was asked to host the series but, due to still being on active duty with the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) at Fort Bragg, NC, he had to decline the offer.  The producers and sponsors of “Grateful Nation” were looking for someone who might have a rapport with each of the soldiers selected to be honored each episode.  I had been involved with another outstanding Orion Media outdoor series called “The Federal Experience”.  I guess they figured that my being a former ranger with 2/75th Ranger Regiment might give me an edge.

After filming in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of British Columbia for 10 days with the series’ first guest soldier, Special Forces SFC Greg Stube, it became apparent that this new series would not only be an exciting outdoor adventure, but also a touching and poignant look into each soldier’s service, sacrifice and life.  I am extremely honored to have been asked to host this series and to be in the company of such brave and patriotic men.

JRH:  Having had some experience in an outdoor series, what did you expect this one to be like?

TA:  I have to say that I really didn’t know what to expect. These men have been through so much mental and physical duress, along with pain and suffering in a myriad of ways that I can’t even fathom. From being shot, sometimes several times, blown up by IEDs, EFPs, hand grenades and RPGs, to being doused in fuel and set on fire and suffering severe burns over the majority of your body, to the mental anguish of survivor’s guilt. These soldiers’ lives changed in an instant. One second laughing, smoking and joking, and the next…BANG!  An IED explodes near your vehicle… When the smoke clears and your training takes over, you assess the situation… Where are my men, my friends?  Where the hell are my legs, arms, hands…my face?  Are we still taking fire?  How do I help my fellow soldiers?

JRH:  Not knowing what to expect, did you go in with an idea of a particular tone you wanted to set for the series?

TA:  Greg Stube set the tone for my approach to hosting “Grateful Nation”.  Greg and I bonded in many ways during our time filming in the snow covered Rockies.  I learned so much from him and how he sees life, and I am a better man for it.  Watching Greg on horseback for hours, heading up steep mountain trails, knowing he was in pain from his many surgeries to re-attach is right leg, his skin grafts to a major portion of his body to heal 3rd degree burns, numerous surgeries to address a wound channel created by a one pound piece of shrapnel which traveled from his right buttock though his body, which took out 70% of his insides, and gunshots through his torso as well, I asked if he’d like to stop and rest a while.  A smile crossed his lips and he said, “I’ll be alright.  I can deal with the pain.  I just wish my doctors could see me right now so they could see what fine work they’ve done. They would be proud.”  That took my breath away. Here is a man on a hard mountain ride, who’s never been on a horse, who is in pain from his many injuries, and all he would like is for his doctors to see the outstanding job they have accomplished on his body.  No whining, just a man happy to be alive and appreciative of  the great care he received from his medical staff and his wife Donna.

JRH:  That is simply inspiring.  I didn’t talk to Greg much about his injuries.  I had no idea of the extent of them.  Even so, he made a great first impression on me during our first phone conversation.  What was your immediate impression of him?

TA:  I did my research on SFC Greg Stube, prior to filming.  What an outstanding individual!  I watched his speech at the 2008 NRA convention via my laptop and was instantly moved by his ease and honesty on stage.  His voice has a slight soothing southern lilt that draws you into his stories.  His descriptions of the firefight at the battle of Sperwan Ghar during Operation Medusa were quite vivid without being braggadocious or full of bravado.  He talked of the heroism of his fellow Special Forces comrades, how they risked life and limb to extinguish the fire from his fuel drenched uniform and helped drag him out of the line of fire.  Stube talked about how, being an 18D (Special Forces medic), he diagnosed his wounds as being beyond repair, about how he heard his commanding officer weep when he thought he was dead and how that moved him.  He talked about the care he received from his medical staff and especially his wife Donna, whom he wasn’t sure would still love him the same after sustaining such horrible wounds.  He told me about his best friend and teammate, Bill Brown, who was killed in action shortly after he (Stube) was grievously wounded.  He talked about all this without any remorse or regret, “Service to our country is not only important but sometimes worth sacrificing for”.  I was moved.

Greg was just as humble in person. When I asked him what it was like coming home to a hero’s welcome, he said, “We don’t want to be heroes, we were just doing our jobs.  All we want to do is come home and be one of you again”.  And by the end of filming, we had laughed together, cried together, challenged ourselves, shared stories of our families, loved ones, friends, military experiences, and in doing so, we became great friends.

JRH:  What was the most surprising thing about the experience?

TA:  The most surprising thing to me about all of these soldiers is that without exception, each and everyone of these men, would do what they did again. They may wish for a different outcome, but, they would all volunteer and do it again.

SPC Louis Dahlman (featured in Episode 6 on November 7th), who lost his entire lower jaw and face from an EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile) while manning the turret in his Humvee, says that it doesn’t bother him when people stare at him, because his wounds are the result of fighting for our country, and of that he is proud.

JRH:  What do you hope the viewers take away from “Grateful Nation”?

TA:  I hope that viewers of “Grateful Nation” will come away with a better understanding of our military men and women.  Why they choose to serve our great nation in such a selfless manner in spite of the danger they face on a daily basis.  I want viewers to know who they are, what they have suffered and how they have recuperated and recovered enough to move on with their lives and to be able to join me on these outdoor adventures. I want our viewers and the country to know what these brave and honorable men have sacrificed for all of us, so that we may enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy.

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“Grateful Nation” premieres on Saturday morning, October 3rd at 7:30 AM EST.  Set your TiVo, now.

Semper fi,

J.R. Head

Remember.

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Serve.

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Thank you to all the courageous men and women that have stepped forward to defend my beloved United States of America over the last eight years.

Semper fidelis,
JRH

I can’t remember exactly when I first discovered his writings but it was at a point where he was disagreeing with the spin coming from the Bush White House regarding progress in Iraq. I was disturbed to have confirmation that things were not quite as we were being told but Yon’s critiques, while serious and undiluted, were constructive in nature. I could tell that he was supportive of the effort even though he sometimes railed against the execution of it. Michael Yon pulls no punches and I checked back often to see what else he had to say. Eventually, the network news would catch up and start reporting things that Yon had written about weeks, often months, earlier. This is a pattern that continues today.

As bad as things sometimes got, Michael always kept faith with our troops. He believed, as I did, that the quality of the individual soldiers and Marines would eventually win over the Iraqi people and, if given time, the Iraqis would succeed in building a free nation for themselves.

And things got bad. Day after day… bad news. Suicide bombings. Iraqi civilians, women and children killed. IED and sniper attacks. Politicians in Washington said Iraq was a “total failure.” They said Marines were killing “innocent civilians in cold blood.” “This war is lost.” And the hits just kept on coming. General David Petraeus was targeted by George Soros’ MoveOn.org in the New York Times and cast as a liar before he even had the chance to testify before Congress. People who continued to support the effort were ridiculed. Don’t you have any idea what’s going on? Aren’t you paying attention? We’re losing! We shouldn’t be there! People are dying and for what? Retreat. Pull out. Surrender. Defeat.

Some friends who had been supporters of the Iraq mission began to waver. They’d say, “How did we lose this? What are we doing? It’s unwinnable.” I started to despair, as well. I never lost faith in the abilities of our military. Rather, I attributed the failure to the civilian leadership and the purposeful hamstringing of the effort by those in opposition to it.

Thank goodness I started reading Michael Yon again at about that point in time. Michael had been writing about the beginnings of what eventually became known as the “Anbar Awakening.” The change in strategy that General Petraeus implemented combined with AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) overplaying their hand had started to turn the tide. This was mid-2007, mind you. When the “news” we were getting on television, in the papers and from some in Washington was darkest, reading Yon’s first hand accounts of the advances our men and women were making and the relationships they were building with the expanding Iraqi Army allowed me to argue my position with renewed vigor. It inspired me to write to leaders in D.C. and demand that they not abandon our troops in the field. How many others were inspired to do likewise? I’m sure I wasn’t alone. I’m also sure that it had some impact.

Michael Yon’s 2005 photo

Funny, but as late as July of 2008, I was still having discussions with people who were saying that Iraq was lost… a failure. By then, the good news could no longer be contained or ignored and it had started being reported by the major news outlets that Iraq had begun to stabilize but, unfortunately, the meme had been set. In fact, one day I had Yon’s book, “Moment of Truth in Iraq” in my hand (already written and published) and this guy at my agency was telling me that we lost in Iraq. I handed him the book and said, “For Pete’s sake, man, read this book before you fucking vote in November.” He said he would. He didn’t. I received it back after the election, unread. He “never got around to it.” His guy had won. His guy had inherited an Iraq that is on its way to being a free country and, hopefully, a staunch ally. Hopefully he won’t screw it up.

I wonder if it could have happened had Michael Yon come home a year earlier. If I’d had to rely on the major news organizations for my information, I would never have known about the Anbar Awakening. I might not have written any letters to those who hold the purse strings and make policy. I may have lost hope along with so many others. Perhaps, we would have pulled out at the turn of the tide, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We’ll never know.

Now, Michael Yon is in Afghanistan. He’s been there before. When everyone was focused on Iraq, he was warning back in 2006 that we could lose Afghanistan if certain issues weren’t addressed. Now, he’s returned to that country and is, once again, calling it as he sees it. In fact, that may have recently caused him to lose his embed privileges with the British forces he’d been travelling with. I’ll never understand these things.

Please visit Michael’s website. Find out what is going on. If you feel that some information you find needs to be pounded into some politician’s brain housing group, then make a call, send an email or a letter and tell them. Tell them.

Oh, and Mr. Yon gets by on reader donations. This helps defray the cost of putting himself in harm’s way with nothing but his camera to shoot with and his laptop to type with so that he can tell you what others can’t or won’t. Please consider hitting his tip jar.

Semper fidelis,

JRH

J.R. Head: Thanks so much, Dale, for taking the time to talk with me.

Dale Dye: You’re most welcome. It’s a pleasure to be anywhere talking about the business we love these days. Hopefully, things will loosen up a bit, we’ll all go to work and I won’t have time for this in the near future.

JRH: Well, I’m glad I caught you when I did. First, let me say that I’ve enjoyed so many of the projects you’ve worked on.

DD: That means a lot coming from a guy with a military background. The reason I work so hard at it is to ensure guys like you and millions of others who served get a fair shake from Hollywood.

JRH: With more than twenty years in the business under your belt, there’s a lot I’d like to cover. Let’s start at the beginning. To many folks, making the jump from the Marine Corps to Hollywood seems counter-intuitive. You seemed to make headway very quickly, retiring from active duty and getting right to work on a high-profile project, Oliver Stone’s “Platoon”. How did that come about?

DD: Well, that takes a little explaining…so bear with me here. I guess it does seem counter-intuitive to come out of a full career as a Marine and just head to Hollywood to find work in the motion picture or TV industry…and frankly, if I’d known anything about this industry at the time, I probably wouldn’t have tried it. You can do a lot of things people tell you are impossible when you’re blissfully ignorant. You might want to write that down. I had no idea back in 1985 when I came to Hollywood what it takes to get in the door out here. I just had this notion that someone who knew what they were talking about regarding the military needed to show these guys doing the writing, directing and performing what the real military was like…how we look, how we think, how we walk, talk and fight in the real world. That came from decades of watching military or war movies and walking away pissed off at what I was seeing. I knew that what was on the small or large screen at the time was not what I’d experienced and I sensed that it could be corrected if someone who’d lived that life could just demonstrate that the reality was much more dynamic, interesting and dramatic than what was being imagined by people who were clueless about our military. So, thinking it was just that simple, I cadged a plane ticket and came on out to set things straight. And wallowing in my own ignorance of how things get done in this town, I just started making calls and kicking down doors and sort of turning it into an all-out frontal assault. Needless to say, I didn’t have much luck except with the security guys who were constantly called to escort me off sets and studio lots. What I was trying to bring to the table was a whole lot more than just advice on which ribbons were correct, or how to get a proper military haircut, how to wear the uniform or how to handle a weapon. There were people out here already who could do that. I wanted to work from the inside and find a way to make the writers, director and actors really understand what it’s like to soldier. As I said, I wasn’t having much luck. People said…you know, we’ve made war movies for years and did just fine without you, so take a hike. I had trouble making them see that there could truly be a significant difference and it would make for a better movie or TV show. Then I ran into a guy named Oliver Stone who was a combat vet from Vietnam. He understood what I was trying to get done. He knew from his own military time as a combat soldier that you can’t translate the experience believably without living the life in some sort of full-immersion training regimen. He let me do it my way on Platoon. When we eventually won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, I began to find a little more receptive attitude with people. The rest is history, I guess.

JRH: Now, I’m just going to run down a list here…and I’m omitting a lot: “Born on the Fourth of July”, “JFK”, “The Last of the Mohicans”, “Forrest Gump”, “Starship Troopers”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “The Thin Red Line”, “Tigerland”, The Great Raid”, “Tropic Thunder”… the list goes on and on. These are some tremendous films and you’ve had a hand in all of them. Which one did you most enjoy working on?

DD: Well, I’ll always have a soft spot for “Platoon” as it kick-started my career and gave credibility to my methods. I’m also partial to a few others. I loved working on “The Beast” with Kevin Reynolds. It was a story about Russian tankers in Afghanistan and we shot it with real captured Soviet tanks in Israel. It was something like being Erwin Rommel for a while. And I love working with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks so I’m quite fond of the experiences on “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers”. I guess from the perspective of satisfaction derived as a Military Advisor, I’d have to single out “Band of Brothers”. It took us a full year to get that done and because of the training we gave the guys, we stayed in character as a WW II airborne infantry company the whole time. I was filling some mighty big boots following in the footsteps of Major Dick Winters, but it was nice to be the second guy in command of a second Easy Company for an entire year. It’s really hard to play favorites when I’m searching around in the memory banks. Every project has its merits, its personalities and its wild experiences. They all add up to a hell of a ride for an old military guy.

JRH: Speaking of (the HBO miniseries) “Band of Brothers,” many of our readers will recognize you from your fantastic portrayal of Colonel Robert Sink. You were also working as an advisor on the series…

DD: Thanks for the kind words about my portrayal of Col. Bob Sink. It was an honor that few actors get to bring a real, legendary character to life on screen. And that brings me to a word or two about my humble efforts as an actor. You’ve probably noted that I tend to double-dip in many of my projects as both Military Advisor and actor in one role or another. I never started out to be an actor, farthest thing from my mind early on…but Oliver Stone had a different view. He watched me training troops and decided it would be effective if I could bring that sort of professional military persona to the screen. So, I became Captain Harris, the Bravo Company Commander, in “Platoon”. I was scared shitless when we started shooting scenes with me and pros like Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Johnny McGinley and others but I just did what I would do in real life and Oliver loved it. That was the start of it all and now I really enjoy it. I think I’m probably the most typecast guy in Hollywood and that’s OK…but one of these days I’d like to stretch a little. Maybe someone out there will give me a shot at the homosexual hairdresser role…but I’m not holding my breath. So far I think I’ve played everything military from a senior sergeant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. When I do military roles on screen, I see it as just another high-profile opportunity to give audiences a factual look at a professional military guy.

JRH: Well, it has always come across. Let me tell you, Dale, “Band of Brothers” was, in my opinion, the most important thing to come out of this town in the last twenty years. Airing, as it did, during a very dark time in our nation’s history, I believe it helped lift people’s spirits by illustrating the courage and sacrifice of the people who serve our country. Is this a common sentiment among fans of the series?

DD: That series really hit an emotional note with viewers. It’s probably one of our best known efforts in the WWII genre and fans of the series are both legion and fanatically loyal. To address your question about it being aired in a dark time in our nation’s history, I guess that likely had something to do with it. It’s hard to say. Certainly my experience leads me to believe that well-made and effectively presented World War II films, mini-series or TV shows are likely to get good reception from worldwide audiences practically anytime. If there’s a war movie sub-genre that you can take to the bank, it’s likely something based in World War II. That was the last military struggle where so much was at stake and both the bad guys and the good guys were clearly identifiable and unambiguous. You don’t have the blame-game political machinations, political correctness or ideology and cultural elements involved as you do with so many modern conflicts. It was a simpler time and the conflict was fairly black and white. For some elements of the fan base for “Band of Brothers”, I think that was both refreshing and reassuring. We may be in a similar position right now with all our economic and geopolitical woes. That’s part of the reason I’m getting ready to do another World War II D-Day film that I think will be very well received. In fact, I’m hoping it will do for the 82^ND Airborne Division what “Band of Brothers” did for the 101^st Airborne. We’ll talk some more about that later if you want.

JRH: Absolutely. First, I’ve always wanted to ask you about this: you often run a “boot camp” for the actors you’re working with. Have you gotten any particularly good results with any actors?

DD: I don’t “often” do it, I always do it unless the Producers adamantly refuse and that usually doesn’t stop us either as the actors nearly always demand the experience. After “Platoon” for which I spent three weeks in the Philippine jungles with the cast making them live the life of combat soldiers 24/7, and after which we got such phenomenal, convincing performances out of them, my so-called “boot camps” became de rigeur on all war films; whether I did them or not. I’d guess we’ve put about a thousand performers through the full-immersion field training at this point and they all seem to point to it as the highlight of their experience; something that taught them a whole lot more than acting techniques. I hope that’s true because that’s what it’s designed to do. I won’t bore you with a lot of military leadership philosophy here, but in broad strokes I’m more interested in getting to a performer’s heart and mind than I am his body. Sure, we teach them by doing how to look and act like a field soldier, how to handle the weapons, equipment and their bodies so they look convincing on the screen, but that’s really a small part of the equation. What I want them to understand is how real soldiers rely on each other, how a unit functions above and beyond the concerns of any one member, how there are things in the military mind-set that make a mission more important – more worthy – than any one individual. I want them to understand the concepts of comradeship, service and sacrifice from first-hand experience. Now that’s a tough lesson for young actors full of ego and self-importance who grow up in pursuit of success or notoriety thinking the sun rises and sets on their ass and their ass alone. I understand that and it’s one of the reasons we make our “boot camps” so physically rugged and so mentally demanding. In essence, we do what the real military does. We tear them down and build them over again in the right mind-set. I’ll let the record speak here, but there’s no doubt it works. Their perspectives and performances alter and improve radically. It’s rugged – some would say brutal – but it works. If it didn’t we wouldn’t be allowed or encouraged to do it.

And here’s an interesting sidelight to the whole boot camp question. Most people don’t know that we usually train a unit of enemy forces at the same time we’re training the good guys. It’s always been my opinion that you ruin the effect – diminish the jeopardy – if you field a bunch of clueless extras to play the enemy in war movies. In the real world our enemies have never been cartoon characters and they shouldn’t be portrayed that way. Over the years we’ve trained units of German and Japanese soldiers, NVA and VC forces, Mujahideen resistance forces, Cubans, Native American warriors and a bunch more. It always pays huge dividends in how the combat scenes look. 

–

JRH: You recently finished work on “The Pacific” which follows the Marines in their battles with Imperial Japan. What battles can we expect to see?

DD: This new HBO miniseries is really close to my heart as a Marine. It follows my old outfit – the 1st Marine Division – through all of its major battles in the Pacific campaigns of World War II. We follow three major characters – one from each of the division’s rifle regiments, 1st Marines, 5th Marines and 7th Marines – from the opening salvos at Guadalcanal, re-fitting in Australia after the Solomons Campaign, on to Cape Gloucester on New Guinea, to Peleliu and then on to Okinawa and back home at war’s end. 

JRH: How would you compare this series to “Band of Brothers”?

DD: “The Pacific” is presented in the same ten-part format as “Band of Brothers” and I think it will prove to be just as popular as the ETO series…especially among Marines and veterans of the Pacific Theater of Operations. That said, it’s very different from “Band”. It’s as different as World War II in the Pacific was from World War II in Europe. It’s much darker and more brutal but that was the nature of fighting on those Pacific islands. Just ask any veteran for confirmation of that. Tom Hanks who is one of our Executive Producers likes to say it will take the audience on a brutal journey to hell and back; the same sort of journey that was experienced by the men who fought the real battles. I think he’s right on the mark with that. From a personal perspective as the Senior Military Advisor, it was an honor and a real treat to command a unit of World War II Marines – actors and special ability extras – for a full year. As we did with Band of Brothers, we stayed in character the entire time. And the training in the jungles of Far North Queensland, Australia was really rugged. I don’t think any of the guys will ever forget that. 

JRH: When can we expect to see it?

DD: We’re finishing post-production on “The Pacific” right now. HBO tells me they plan to air it beginning early in 2010. I’m trying to get them to do an exclusive preview at the traditional home of the 1st Marine Division just down the road at Camp Pendleton.  

JRH: Outstanding. I’d like to change gears here for a second… One of the things that drives me insane, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, is when a film or television show screws up the military stuff. For example, simple things like uniforms. Nothing takes me out of a scene faster than realizing that some actor’s rank insignia is upside down or a “Marine” is saluting indoors, uncovered, etc. Tell our readers a bit about exactly what it is you bring to a production as a military advisor and why it’s important that Hollywood get it right. 

DD: Well, you’re getting to the very heart of my philosophy as a Military Advisor and filmmaker here. For years there was a sort of arrogant attitude on the part of a lot of filmmakers that audiences didn’t know or care what was real about war or the military, so they’d willingly suspend their disbelief to accept whatever the writers or directors saw fit to present. That mind-set was ignoring a couple of facts that I quickly recognized. First of all, entire generations of Americans – but very, very few filmmakers – had personal experience with the military through the draft that lasted right up through the mid-70’s. Secondly, we live in a media-saturated society where news footage or live feeds from battlefields around the world show potential audiences what the real military, real conflict looks like. Ignore that and you’ve got what the psycho-babblers call “cognitive disconnect.” People watch the nightly news and see what real soldiers in real combat look like and then you want them to give you twenty bucks to see make-believe soldiers doing something that looks entirely different? Won’t work…and no marquee star or powerhouse director is going to make it work. It goes against human nature. I started thinking about this on a minor-league level early in my efforts to get into the business as a Military Advisor. I’d had the same experience you talked about, you know, ribbons worn wrong, bad haircuts, sloppy salutes and all the inaccuracies that piss us military veterans off so badly when we see them on screen. That led me to wonder why filmmakers got these simple, easy-to-fix things wrong all the time. And that led me to understand the arrogance situation and that, in turn, led me to develop my own techniques of getting it right from the inside out by training performers and carefully staging combat scenes to reflect the realities or what people were seeing on the nightly news. That’s what I was bringing to the table. It just took a long time and a lot of hard work in proving the point to get filmmakers to eat it. In our business nothing succeeds like success, so as time went on and I became more skilled, producers and directors wanted me at their shoulder as a reality check and they let me do more and more of the staging and coaching for them. It was a process of education for both of us.  

JRH: You are the founder of Warriors, Inc., the military advisory company. What kind of services do you provide? 

DD: I’m very proud of Warriors Inc. I think it’s still the preeminent military advisory service in the industry although there are a lot of imitators out there. That’s OK. Competition just improves the product or service. But we still bring the big stick and produce the most tangible results. We do it differently on a whole different level and bring a huge amount of experience to a project. That said, I recognized early on that relying on standard military fare in movies or TV was not going to pay our bills. There were just too few appropriate projects to keep us busy all the time. So I started chasing films that you wouldn’t think necessarily needed a full-time Military Advisor. We worked very successfully on Last of The Mohicans and Starship Troopers, for instance. I also started looking around to work with established writers, providing them ideas and advice on military-themed projects. And Warriors Inc. has expanded into a lot of different fields these days. We do themed entertainment work such as the Star Trek ride at the Hilton in Las Vegas and the Terminator T-2/3-D rides at Universal Studios in Hollywood, Orlando and Osaka, Japan. We’ve got a Warriors Inc. imprint for publishing now that’s been getting my novels out on the market. We’re doing corporate leadership and team-building seminars based on the military model for major clients around the world. We’ve even consulted on several music videos. And I’m always writing screenplays with military themes, so we stay busy even in the down times. Anyone who’s interested can track all this at www.warriorsinc.com.  

JRH: Do you actively recruit veterans to work for Warriors, Inc.? Or do they find you? 

DD: Warriorsinc.com is probably the first hit for veterans searching for work in showbiz when they get out of uniform. At least it seems to be according to our webmaster. She’s regularly flooded with requests from veterans who want to work as Military Advisors to film and TV and my email gets jammed with similar requests all the time. We’re very selective about the people we respond to because our guys have to be leaders and teachers as well as combat vets. We get a lot of requests from high-speed, low-drag types – Army SF, Rangers, Marine Force Recon, SEALs, etc. – but ironically those guys don’t work out very often. What we need are basic infantry squad leaders who can teach and who can think creatively. That’s hard to find, believe it or not. We need guys who can do extensive research; who can flex and bring their military leadership experience to bear in any uniform we may have to wear for a project. It’s about a hell of a lot more than weapons and tactics. And I run Warriors like a rifle company. We don’t have a CEO or managers. We have a Commanding Officer, an Executive Officer, an Adjutant and Platoon Sergeants. That makes the suits in Sacramento crazy, but it’s the way we operate. I’m a stickler for loyalty and in my outfit loyalty runs up and down the chain of command…with emphasis on the latter direction. I have a staff of good, proven guys – no surprise that most of them are Marines – who always get first shot at projects before we go looking for new Cadre recruits. My XO Mike Stokey, for instance, has been with me now for twenty years and he often runs shows on his own while I’m off working on a different project but it’s always under the Warriors Inc. umbrella. We were young sergeants together in Vietnam and share the same leadership philosophies and filmmaking techniques. In fact, all the Warriors Inc. Cadre guys share those things. We teach them and demand a very high-level of performance. I guess another of the reasons we’re so particular is that I’m not interested in training people who will take what we offer and then quit to form their own military advisory service in direct competition with us. It’s happened before. I’m not brilliant but I’m not stupid either. 

JRH: What advice would you give to an active duty service member that is considering a career in the entertainment industry? 

DD: I get this question all the time and the answer is always the same. First, narrow your focus. What is it specifically you want to do in the entertainment industry? Do you want to be a Military Advisor, a writer, a director, a producer, a cameraman, work in props, special effects, visual effects or what? Most folks coming off active duty have no idea how segmented and synergistic making films is these days. So, I tell them to do a little practical research and a lot of soul-searching to determine what it is they really want to do beyond “make movies.” The next thing I tell them is to get a regular day-job to pay the bills while they work toward cracking the showbiz nut. And in the most discouraging, harsh and realistic terms I can express, I tell them what a bitch-kitty this industry can be for people trying to get a start. Those that survive that usually have the guts, tenacity and determination to make it one way or another. I hate to do it that way, but painting some sort of pie-in-the-sky rosy picture would be a disservice to veterans and I won’t be a part of that. What’s really tough is talking to young vets – men and women – who want to be actors. This business is built on the bones and carcasses of wonderful young people who’ve driven themselves to destruction trying to make it big because they’re focused on stardom and not the creative process. Still, I find it hard to burst a bubble or destroy a dream. I do what I can through contacts and sage advice to give them a little hand up.  

JRH: I’ve read that you’ll be directing your first feature. Earlier, you mentioned something about the 82nd Airborne. Is that the project? Can you tell me about a bit about that? 

DD: Lord knows I’ve been to the finest film school in the world with no classroom time involved. I’ve worked with the best writers, directors and producers in the business – Oliver Stone, John Frankenheimer, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Wolfgang Petersen, Bob Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, Billy Friedkin, Dave Nutter, Roberto Benini and a whole host of others. They were all kind enough to teach me filmmaking on a very practical level while we worked together and now it’s time for me to put that knowledge, skill and creativity to work on my own projects. The first of these is a World War II film that I wrote titled “No Better Place To Die.” It’s a really impactful story of the stand made by elements of the 82nd Airborne Division on D-Day to take and hold open a vital bridge over the Merderet River in Normandy. Had those guys not held that bridge, the break-out from Omaha Beach and subsequent capture of the vital deep-water port at Cherbourg never would have happened. Much of the success of the allied landings on D-Day depended on what these 82nd Airborne paratroops were able to do in the face of astronomical odds. I’m raising money to do it right now and trying not to depend too heavily on traditional sources. I want to do this my way as a writer/director. We’ve got deals in place to shoot it on the actual battlefields in Normandy where the fighting took place in 1944. And it’s going to be a film made by genuine combat veterans. Our line producer Marty Katz, Director of Photography Levie Isaacks and myself as writer/director are all combat veterans, so we’ll bring a very special look and feel to the film. If there are any real money players in your audience, I’m open to make a deal.  

JRH: (laugh) All the real money players read my stuff. “No Better Place to Die” sounds like it will be a great piece and I’ll be looking forward to it. That said, after more than twenty years slugging it out in Hollywood, are there any other goals you want to achieve? 

DD: Well, obviously I want to get this first Dale Dye film made and turn it into a hit. If I can pull that off, I’ve got a slate of three other military pictures already written that I want to do using the World War II film as proof of performance. I want to do a film on the Chosen Reservoir Campaign in Korea, a true-story Vietnam film based on a Combined Action Platoon and a story from Iraq that involves events in Mosul during the first free Iraqi elections. These are all written by me and I’ll want to direct them all. I’m approaching all this in the same way I approached breaking into showbiz in the first place twenty-five years ago: fix bayonets and charge. Remember what I said earlier. You can do a lot of things people tell you are impossible when you’re blissfully ignorant. I’ll get these pictures done through sheer force of will if nothing else.  

JRH: I have no doubt at all about that. Captain Dye, it’s been a real pleasure.

Thank you.

To those on active duty, I say thank you for your continued service. Many of you signed up knowing full well that there are two shooting wars going on. That takes a special kind of guts. Your performance in defense of freedom continues to be an inspiration to me, personally. Thank you.

To all the veterans, I remind you that your service and sacrifice have not gone forgotten. Whether you served in war or in peace, you had a hand in keeping America safe from some of largest threats in history. You also, by your very existence, kept other dangers from materializing. Thank you.

To those at home, I commend you for your strength, your love and your commitment. You do your best to keep the bills paid, the kids happy, the life moving forward. Like all things military, it can be a thankless job. Most importantly, though, remember that without you, there is nothing for our men and women to come home to. Nothing to protect. Nothing to serve. So, thank you and may your loved ones return safe and soon.

Although it’s been a long time since I’ve worn a uniform outside of a studio lot, I am proud to have served with such wonderful Americans. Please remember that you’ll always have a friend in Hollywood.

Semper fidelis,

J.R. Head

Note:  Part 1 of this 4 part interview can be found here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

J.R. Head:  I felt that one of the most important things about the film was that it allows the folks that are left behind, the friends and loved ones, to get a glimpse of a soldier’s everyday life.  I served during relative peacetime but, even for me, it was difficult to explain what my day was like to my girlfriend, to my family… They were always imagining something bad happening.  And, let’s face it, peacetime or wartime, sometimes bad stuff happens.  We train hard, there are accidents and sometimes people die but for the most part you’re just doing your job.  I felt like “Brothers at War” gives folks a good look at what really goes on and allows them to relax a little bit.  Y’know, there’s not, say, a mortar attack every five minutes. 

“Brothers at War” Director, Jake Rademacher:  It’s a great tool for a soldier to allow loved ones a window, a good look at what life is like for them during a deployment.

JRH:  Exactly. That being said, why should someone who doesn’t have a family member serving see this film?

JR: Because they are going to gain insight that you can only gain from being on the frontlines or in the middle of a family living this war on a daily basis.  I had an advertising executive in New York say, “What I loved about “Brothers at War” was that you allowed me to ride shotgun on your journey and you never told me how to think or feel about anything.  I just got to take it all in and make up my own mind.”  I’ve had so many people thank me for not making it political.

When coming to see “Brothers at War” someone from outside the military family is coming in with a number of assumptions whether they know it or not.  As an audience it is always delightful to be surprised, to make discoveries, to be able to have your perspective challenged and informed.

In “Brothers at War” they get to dive right in and meet these guys, as they are, while they are doing this life and death work, creating relationships that will hold a special meaning for the rest of their lives.  For someone who wants to understand camaraderie and the special humor that comes out of living in this alien environment, this film is a good way in.

Insight and the intimate look into the inner relationships of a family is something that everyone can relate to.  In “Brothers at War”, Isaac comes home from war and his daughter doesn’t recognize him.  That happens in real time.  This one guy told me, “You had three grown men crying back here.  We all have young kids.  I go away for a week and I miss my kids like you wouldn’t believe.  I never really understood what those guys do until I saw your brother come home to his daughter after seven months.  I finally got it.”

My agent at William Morris, Erik Seastrand, saw the film and asked me all these questions about my brothers and about my relationship with them.  I mean, he really grilled me.  Finally, I said, “Come on, Erik, you know what it’s like.  You’ve got brothers.” He said, “No.  I don’t.” The film was a way for him to better understand brotherhood. In the end, it’s a film about brotherhood set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq.

It’s also a film about an American family facing the crucible of war.  I think anyone who wants to know more about who is fighting the war, the impact that it has on their families… I think they’ll find “Brothers at War” very interesting.  

After screening the film at Notre Dame, (fellow ND alum) Brandon Tuley said to me, “I learned more in sixty minutes of watching your film than I did in four years of watching the news.” So, save yourself four years of watching the news and come watch “Brothers at War” (laughs).

JRH: That’s good.  We should close with that (laugh).

JR: Before we do, I want to tell you a little about some of the folks without whose help we would not be sitting here discussing Brothers at War.  First, my producing partner, Norman S. Powell, was really a mentor to me as a director and producer.  As a filmmaker, he really coached me, taught me to trust my instincts, challenged some of my choices, and put a lot of love and time into making “Brothers at War”.  His expertise and tutelage were a tremendous boon.

Many have commented on the excellence of “Brothers at War,” and a lot of credit needs to also to Bob DeMaio who did a great job editing the film.  He understood what I was trying to accomplish with the footage, and his sensitivity and taste allowed all the layers of emotion and meaning to exist, bubbling under the surface of the film.

We have received repeated compliments regarding the cinematic look of the film.  Sony featured “Brothers at War” at their kickoff event for NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) this year alongside Michael Mann’s upcoming “Public Enemies,” George Lucas and the Dallas Cowboys.  Conor Colwell who shot some of the startling, beautiful, and at times poetic images in the first third of the film deserves much credit for the unique look.  Marc Miller was instrumental in teaching and coaching us both in coverage and look.  His years of expertise were invaluable.

Finally, there would be no film, without the courage of a number of small business owners from my hometown of Decatur, IL.  After I had gone through my own finances, I had to raise a lot of money fairly quickly to fund the making of “Brothers at War”.  I went back to my hometown and approached small business owners, family and friends to see if they would invest in my idea.  These small business owners, family and friends voted with their pocketbooks to make “Brothers at War” a reality.

JRH: That’s outstanding.

JR: It’s true. The majority of the financing for “Brothers at War’ came from Heartland families. 

JRH: My hat’s off to them.  And to you, Jake.  Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.  You’ve got a great film.  Good luck with it.

JR: Thanks. It was my pleasure.

————

I recently went to see “Brothers at War” again, while it was here in Los Angeles. The film has lost nothing in the months since I’d last seen it. If anything, it’s gotten better. Get out and see it. Asses in seats, people. That’s how we get more films like “Brothers at War.”

Semper fidelis,

J.R. Head

“Brothers at War” opens today in Peoria, IL, Shreveport, LA and Oakdale, MN.  It will be coming soon to Carlisle, PA.

Note: Part 1 of this 4 part interview can be found here and Part 2, here.

J.R. Head: Changing gears, (Executive Producer) Gary Sinise said of this film, “Brothers at War celebrates the courage and integrity of the American Soldier and the American military family.  It is also a film about a man’s love and respect for his two brothers and his dedication to telling their story.  A great film that I am proud to be a part of.”   That’s got to feel good, coming from someone of Gary’s caliber.

“Brothers at War” Director, Jake Rademacher:  Yeah, it was funny.  I was invited to screen “Brothers at War” in Iraq for General Petraeus’ public affairs folks and a number of our warriors stationed over there.  Upon viewing the film, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Loretta Vandenberg, extremely moved by “Brothers at War” said, “You need to get this to Gary Sinise.  He’s a big supporter of the troops, you need to get him to present this film.  Call him when you get back to Los Angeles.”  I was like, “okay… do you have his phone number?”

I mean, it’s not like Gary and I were having drinks at the same cantina.  I had always admired his acting, both on stage and on screen, but I didn’t really see any way to get in contact with him.  So, I just put that suggestion in the back of my head and came back to L.A.  While cutting the film… every time we’d make some changes my producing partner, Norman Powell, my editor, Bob DeMaio, and I’d bring in a couple friends, to get feedback on the cut.  An actor friend of mine, former Marine, Michael Broderick, had seen the film over the summer and when I came back to William Morris Agency, where we’re both rep’ed for voice-over, I saw him and he was excited to know how the screenings in Iraq went.

JRH:  Another Marine?  I like where this is going…

JR:  After telling him they went well, as an aside I off-handedly told him what LtCol Vandenberg had said about Gary Sinise.  Michael says, “I know Gary.” I said, “You know Gary?”  He says, “Yeah, yeah.  I’m having lunch with him later this week.”  I was like, “What?!” (laughs)  Cut to a week later, Michael tells me Gary wants to see “Brothers at War” and gives me the number to Eric, Gary’s assistant.  So, we went about finding a time in Gary’s schedule to see the film, and eventually set up a screening for the day before Thanksgiving.

JRH:  He obviously liked the film.  How did he become executive producer?

JR:  He laughed a lot in the beginning of the film, was moved during the middle, and I could see his excitement during the third act.  After the credits rolled, he just sat there for a couple of minutes, just taking it in.  Then we talked for about an hour, about the war, “Brothers at War,” his tours to visit the troops, it was the start of a deep friendship.  He put his shoulder behind helping us get distribution and raise awareness for the film.  He just started acting like an executive producer from that day on, so, eventually we made it official.

JRH:  I saw the film at the screening over at FOX studios–

JR: That was our first event. Jon Voight had seen “Brothers at War” the week before Gary and had fallen in love with it.  Gary Sinise, Jon Voight and Norman Powell and my production company, Metanoia Films, hosted a private screening on the Fox Lot to introduce “Brothers at War” to the entertainment community.  The film got a standing ovation by the 350 people there.  We had a great Q&A afterward.  They were pulling tables out of the reception room after and there was still a line of people that wanted to speak with me about the film.  It was a great event.  John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting went home that night, sat down at his piano and wrote a song.  He was inspired by the characters in the film, and then recorded his performance with the emotions stirred by the film still swirling inside him.  You can hear John’s voice as it was recorded that night during our end credits.

Gary Sinise, Jake Rademacher, Army Capt. Isaac Rademacher

JRH:  Wow.

JR:  He was really feeling it, Lee Holdridge composed the string section that supports John’s piano and vocals.  I think Brothers in Arms is a beautiful way to end the film.

JRH:  The FOX screening… Is that how you hooked up with Samuel Goldwyn?

JR:  No, but I got an excellent entertainment attorney through that process, Craig Emanuel, who is just a font of information, knowledge, and advice.  It became apparent to all of us: Craig, Norman, Gary, and Dave Scantling (who was starting to come into the picture at this point) that we had to prove that “Brothers at War” had an audience.  We had to take the film out into the country.  First “Brothers at War” world premiered at the G.I. Film Festival.  General Casey, the Chief of Staff of the Army and MNFI Commander of Iraq while we were shooting in Iraq, was there.  Robert Duvall was there, and Gary Sinise introduced the film.

“Brothers at War” received a standing ovation, and won “Best Feature Length Documentary.”  It received another standing ovation at West Point a week later.  Then Gary flew to Decatur, Illinois for a charity event, where we sold 700 tickets in six hours in order to raise $25,000 for veterans’ causes.  The next week at the Solstice Film Festival in Minnesota, we took “Best Documentary” and the Grand Jury Award.  The next week in Dallas we raised another $20,000 for veterans causes–

JRH:  Now, the G.I. Film Festival is obviously a “friendly audience” to a military film but the Solstice Film Festival isn’t a military film festival, is it?

JR:  No, it’s not.  I was really happy about the G.I. Film Festival because those are the guys, the warriors… I wanted to know what they thought about the film and was honored to have it received so well.  To me, that was the most important thing.  Solstice was really great because, as you note, it wasn’t a military festival.  It was in Minneapolis, which is very mixed, politically.  Very interesting screening, I’ll never forget it.  To win the “Grand Jury Prize” of the whole festival was really a great honor.  

It was interesting because there were only three veterans in the entire audience.  So, it was a great chance to see people who maybe don’t know a lot of people in the military, don’t have any military in their family, in their lives, but they just want to know more about what’s going on.  They’re curious about the whole thing.  We had a great Q&A afterwards.  One woman raised her hand and said (about the snipers) that it bothered her a little bit how they talked about death and doing what they had to do.  We had a fantastic conversation. 

I explained that I could’ve cut all that out, y’know, not have the truth in there, but that’s not what “Brothers at War” is about.  That’s how they deal with it and they’re doing a really tough job.  I told her that often a soldier’s opinion of Iraqis is tied directly to the soldier’s job.  I mean, if your job is to find the worst people doing the worst things and then take them out, you’re not going to have a very high opinion of them.  If, on the other hand, your job is to train and work with them every single day and mold them, like SSgt Allier, you generally have a much better opinion of them.  They’re your friends.  You see the good in them.  You see guys that are trying to rebuild their country, trying to grasp this opportunity that’s in front of them.  I think it’s inspiring to see someone taking steps toward that.  Allier says very clearly in the film that his opinion of the Iraqis started to change when he started to treat them like he would his Marines.  When they stepped up to go through the same dangers with him.

JRH:  So, the Solstice audience responded to the film as well as the festival judges?

JR:  Oh, yeah.  This guy came up to me afterwards and put his hand on my shoulder and said he’d been in the National Guard for sixteen years.  He worked as a prison guard in civilian life but he was also a Captain in the National Guard.  He’d done two tours in Iraq.  He said, “I just want to tell you what your film means to me…” and then he just looked down and he started to cry.  I’ll never forget it.  He said, “I’ve never cried in front of my kids.  I’ve never cried in front of my wife but you know what we go through.”  And he said, “I lost a lot of good buddies over there.” In Decatur, a gold star mom came up to me, told me she lost her son in Iraq and thanked me for making “Brothers at War.”

They are the ones that have driven this entire effort forward to try and make sure the American people get to see this film.  It’s one thing to get a million hits on the website or a standing ovation but when someone is moved by the film or a soldier comes up to me and says he can’t wait for his girlfriend or his dad to see it, that’s what’s important for me.  It keeps us all going.  So, we were able to generate some momentum by taking it out to these different events and the response was very positive.  My attorney talked to Endeavor and Graham Taylor, head of Endeavor Independent Film, responded to all that and said, “Listen, I’ll take you to a couple of distributors that I think would be right for this.” He called up Samuel Goldwyn.  Samuel Goldwyn Films saw the film and said they were very interested.  We sat down with them, and were really impressed. 

They’ve been around for a hundred years, and Peter Goldwyn grandson of Samuel was the one we met with.  He understood that I wanted to bring the film to the soldiers and their families first, for emotional reasons but also because there are 3 million people serving in the military right now between reserves and National Guard, and active duty.  There are 23 million veterans and they’ve been kind of overlooked as a group.  So, I thought I’d do a little something different… focus on them and bring the “Brothers at War”to them first, and Samuel Goldwyn Films was open to that.

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In the final part of my interview with Jake, we talk about brothers, family and why it’s important that Americans get out and see “Brothers at War.” Stay tuned.

Semper fidelis,

J.R. Head

“Brothers at War” is currently playing in Los Angeles at Santa Monica’s AMC Broadway 4.  It is also currently playing in Springfield, IL, White Plains, NY and Knoxville, TN. 

Note: Part 1 of this 4 part interview can be found here.

J.R. Head:  Tell me about the time frame of the film.  ”Brothers at War” was shot in 2005?

“Brothers at War” Director, Jake Rademacher:  Isaac departs in 2004, I join him in August 2005, and events in Iraq and on the Home front go through 2006.

JRH:  So, that’s pre-“Surge”.  But one of the things I noticed from the film was the advancement that the Iraqi Army was making.  I was encouraged by the individual efforts of people like [Marine] Staff Sergeant Allier and others to–

JR:  Correct. “Brothers at War” rolls back the clock to a time in the war when the future of Iraq wasn’t necessarily determined and, in fact, a number of people in America thought it was a lost cause.  In “Brothers at War” the audience gets a glimpse into where things were going, and insight into what led to the tremendous turnaround in Iraq.  They get to drop in with the Iraqi Army and see them in action.  The unit that I embedded with was the first Iraqi battalion to get it’s own “battle space” in all of Iraq.  They were actually in charge of that space, working with United States Marines who were military advisors.  The audience gets to walk alongside SSgt Allier as he mentors a company sometimes very humorously, sometimes in life threatening moments.  They were in charge of that space in Jazirah.  Jazirah is in the middle of the Sunni Triangle, just north of the Euphrates, between Ramadi and Fallujah.  The Iraqi battalion’s mission was to take this safe haven away from the insurgents, many of whom were coming in from other countries and using this area as a staging ground for operations in Ramadi, and Fallujah.  Almost all the insurgents that we ran into had Syrian passports.  Many used tactics that gave evidence of serious military training. 

JRH:  So, the mentorship that the Marines–

JR:  The mentorship, the standing up of the Iraqi army was a key component to winning the war.  What the Surge did was… General Petraeus multiplied that strategy.  What’s exciting about what he did was Petraeus had the audacity to ask for 20,000 more soldiers at, politically speaking, the worst time he could have done it.  He had the perseverance and the strength of character to take the slings and arrows that came with asking for them.  What he did with them was also just mind-boggling at the time.  He took what we see working in the film and he multiplied it across Iraq!  He said, “That’s working, so let’s do that all over the place.  Let’s take our platoons and Iraqi platoons and put them together and give them this battle space.  And we’ll put these other guys together and give them this space over here.  We’ll make them live together, work together and patrol together.”  And that’s really what the Surge was.  It wasn’t just 20,000 guys getting thrown into the mix.  He multiplied their impact by pairing them up with Iraqi soldiers.  Look at SSgt Allier teaching the Shia soldiers to interact with the Sunni citizens.  They’re afraid to do it, at first, but then they do it–they get to know them.  The Sunnis start to realize the Shia aren’t there to kill them and vice versa and they start to develop a relationship.  And that relationship, on a much larger scale, is what led to the Surge working.  These elements working together.  The other thing you see, early in the film, that was pre-Surge and very effective was the recon that my brother’s guys were doing.  What they were trying to do was shut down the inflow of–

JRH:  –Foreign fighters–

JR:  And foreign ammunition!  Explosives and detonating devices.  They were helping to shut down the flow of that into the country.  All along the Syrian border, like in Haditha… Haditha was the worst smuggling area in the country.  So, stuff would come in through Haditha and then go along what is called a “rat line” to Ramadi, then to Fallujah and to Baghdad.  Or to Ramadi and then up to Mosul.  You get to see what was effective in limiting the flow of foreign fighters, basically attacking them as they came in and eliminating that pipeline.  You get to see the Iraqis getting on their feet for the first time.  Sometimes stumbling, other times doing well and you see the Marines giving them encouragement and helping them through very real obstacles.  Literally, guys getting their leg torn up or their face messed up and going back out on patrol the next day.  They’re pointing out, you know, “Here’s what you did.  This was good but here’s what you can do better.”  I mean, war is not just like a light switch to be flipped on and off.   It’s a very long process.  Learning to do anything well takes a long time.  It takes even longer to get 130 guys to act together as a unit in combat.  Basically, I think there was a lot of success under General Casey’s command that went unreported and it was these successes that allowed General Patraeus to come in and generate the amazing successes that he did.

JRH:  Some called it the “beat cop” strategy–

JR:  The “beat cop” strategy!  In a warzone!  Which, if you step back and think about it, is scary as hell.  There was resistance from all sides.  People said it was crazy to drop our guys into the most dangerous neighborhoods and have them live there.  “We’re not gonna give ‘em a base.  They’re gonna make their own base with an Iraqi Army platoon.” (snorts) These guys are wondering, “Are they infiltrated with terrorists?  Can we trust them?”  Crazy.  Bold and crazy.  But it was exactly the right move.

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In Part 3 of this 4 part interview, Jake Rademacher talks about some of the recognizable names that rallied behind “Brothers at War,” the festival circuit and more.  Stay tuned.

Semper fidelis,

J.R. Head

“Brothers at War” is currently playing in Los Angeles at Santa Monica’s AMC Broadway 4.  It is also currently playing in Springfield, IL, White Plains, NY and Knoxville, TN.