Iraq veteran Jamil Brown films in a mock Iraqi village
as part of the film and media production program. Photo by
Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times.
A program from the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation has 19 disabled veterans participating in a 10-week apprenticeship program to learn film and media production.
According to the Feb. 3 New York Times story, "The film program is the brainchild of Kevin Lombard, an Emmy-winning cinematographer and documentary filmmaker, and his wife, Judith Ann Paixao, who has assisted in his productions. A friend with ties to the Marines suggested that Mr. Lombard make a documentary on the wounded, but Mr. Lombard struck on another idea. 'Why not give these marines the tools to tell their own stories?' he said."
Brent Callender, 22, of Downey, Calif., who was a Marine lance corporal, told the New York Times, "the program rescued him from despair over his injuries and his future. He broke his spine, pelvis, kneecaps and other body parts in September 2005 when he was shot by a sniper and then ejected from a vehicle that moments later hit a roadside bomb in the Anbar Province."
The NY Times story about the veterans on its Web site includes a slide show and audio clips. Check it out at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/03wounded.html?ex=1202619600&en=dbd791b9d9e0eeab&ei=5018&partner=BRITANNICA.