War Stories: Brave New Foundation Trains Soldiers to Make Docs | A boot camp of a different sort took place this past February in Culver City, California, when five veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars spent three days together getting a crash course in documentary filmmaking. The experience was part of Operation In Their Boots, the kickoff to a unique fellowship program during which the vetswill produce and direct their own nonfiction films. Read Full Article

 Veterans Tell War Stories on Film | It’s his film that’s meant to be the metaphor, but even Tristan Dyer’s days spent working alone in a small, darkened studio take on their own double meaning. Dyer immerses himself in the shadows each day to create a documentary about combat veterans struggling with addiction brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder. His film is “Enduring Erebus” — the Greek god of darkness, the son of Chaos. Read Full Article

Filming Another Side of the Story | Filmmaker and Army veteran Kyle Hartnett stopped in Olympia last week as he documents the experiences of American Muslims in the military. Hartnett, 28, was in town to film an interview with James Yee, the former Muslim Army chaplain who lives in Olympia, for his documentary short. Hartnett, who served in the Army from 2000 to 2003 and deployed to Afghanistan for six months, is one of five recent veterans hired to direct and produce films about military service and war from their perspectives. Read Full Article

Fairfield man films documentary on Muslim | Until the Nov. 5, 2009, shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, former paratrooper Kyle Hartnett didn't think much about Muslim-Americans in the military. While serving in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division, the only Muslims the Fairfield High School graduate dealt with were interpreters who were Afghani civilians. Now, he is making a documentary about Muslim-American servicemembers and what they face while serving their country. Read Full Article

Challenges military families face spotlighted in TV documentary | In summer 2008, Sgt. Jeannette Tackett, of Tacoma, left behind her 5-year-old daughter, Emma, to spend a year in Iraq with the Washington National Guard. She says the hardest moment was a midyear return home, when she joined her daughter for a sixth birthday and then had to return to her gunner's duty in Iraq. Read Full Article

Mom shines light on vets Post-war problems| Richard Ray Perez filmmaker with Brave New Foundation. “From War to Prison,” a 30-minute documentary, will be released worldwide via the web. “From War to Prison” chronicles the life of an Iraq Veteran with severe PTSD who fell through the cracks of the Dept. of Veteran Affairs and who eventually reacted violently to what he thought was a threatening situation. Read Full Article

Documentary explores impact of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan on vets | Jamie Keyes remembers how different her son was when he came home from his second tour in Iraq. "He just wasn't the same person," she said from her home in Statham, Ga. "He had had this awesome sense of humor. That was gone. He was very stoic. The fun Nathan was gone." Read Full Article

The First Coast man is featured in a documentary about life after service | Jamie Keyes remembers how different her son was when he returned from a second tour in Iraq. Now about halfway into the resulting prison term , Keyes has become the focus of a documentary made as part of “In Their Boots,” a series about the impact the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have on people back home. Read Full Article

From War to Prison: a PTSD Documentary, Debuts Online| Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the impact this complex and misunderstood problem had on a young American's life is the subject of a hard-driving documentary debuting online today called From War to Prison.  Read Full Article

'In Their Boots' documentary series looks at the impact of war|
Every episode features a documentary about how America’s servicemen and women, their families, and our communities have been profoundly changed by our nation's military campaigns. Shot on location throughout the country, these stories stress the courage of our participants, and the valor of the people and organizations that help our heroes on their journey... Read Full Article

In Their Boots: A special screening of Soldiers on the Street|
The ongoing documentary series examines the impact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on people here at home. “They have featured our veterans in a number of their pieces and this one in particular really sheds light on the struggles that all too many of our veterans face on a daily basis,” said William Wallace, US-Vets Long Beach, United States Veterans Initiative... Read Full Article

In Their Boots by Dave Schechter, CNN Senior National Editor| Every so often, I’ll be looking online for one thing when something else grabs my attention. It happened again this week. While researching topics that ranged from the federal stimulus program to food banks to the Census, I came across www.intheirboots.com. I defy anyone to watch the videos on this website without feeling pangs of emotion. They are heartfelt, touching, poignant, wrenching, sad and joyous...Read Full Article

A Moving Documentary: Homecoming| Meet Kim Roy of Yelm, Wash. She's an intrepid Army wife with two boys, Danny, 2, and Maddox, less than a year old. While her husband, Justin, is on his second deployment -- this time in Afghanistan -- she's raising two energetic sons by herself... Read Full Article

Veterans Tell Their Experience Through Filmmaking| Brave New Foundation will present the launch of OPERATION IN THEIR BOOTS, a Film Fellowship open to Veterans and enlisted service members of the current Iraq and Afghan conflicts, to tell their experiences through the production of their own documentaries. Read Full Article

Military Women ‘Outside the Wire’ | We will have a conversation with filmmaker Amanda Spain who has focused her energies into social issue documentaries. Her latest project was producing the documentary series In Their Boots, a series dedicated to showing how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect us here at home. Tonight, we will be discussing Season two’s, “Outside The Wire,”.... Read Full Article

Women after Combat| We will have a conversation with filmmaker Amanda Spain who has focused her energies into social issue documentaries. Her latest project was producing the documentary series In Their Boots, a series dedicated to showing how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect us here at home. Tonight, we will be discussing Season two’s, “Outside The Wire,” in which three women service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan to find they face a new battle—a battle to treat their wartime injuries.... Read Full Article

Lawmakers step up for widow, son of soldier| A bill moving through Congress is Hotaru Ferschke's only chance of raising her 8-month-old son together with her in-laws in Tennessee. "If (the bill doesn't pass), I may not get to see my grandson more than maybe two times a year and he will not really ever get to know his daddy," ... Read Full Article

A War Widow's struggle | A Maryville family is living a bureaucratic nightmare. In August 2008, Marine Sergeant Michael Ferschke was killed in battle in Iraq. He left behind his new Japanese bride, pregnant with his son...  Read Full Article

Marine widow needs act of Congress to let her, son stay in States  | For nearly eight months, Hotaru Ferschke has been honoring her dead husband’s wish to raise their son in the Tennessee town where he grew up... Read Full Article

Ferschke documentary seeks to change U.S. immigration law| The opening line of a documentary film echoed through the room Thursday at Maryville College's Lawson Auditorium, as Hotaru Nakama Ferschke talked from the screen about her struggle to stay in America with her 8-month-old son... Read Full Article

Segunda batalla de un soldado | A Jack Barrios le cuesta trabajo conciliar el sueño. Los horrores de la guerra se hacen presentes de manera constante. Alucinaciones, dolores de cabeza y depresión lo atormentan. Es el estrés postraumático de la guerra desde que regresó de Irak en julio de 2007. Pero hoy enfrenta una de sus peores pesadillas: la orden de deportación de su esposa... Read Full Article

Struggling Iraq vet may lose his anchor | The nightmares still plague him. The terrifying mortar attacks. The loss of an Albanian soldier and ally, mutilated by shrapnel. The Iraqi children, bloodied and battered, lined up for medical care at the U.S. base at Mosul... Read Full Article

As pessoas acham que os gays não têm família | Ben Cartwright luta pelos direitos dos gays nos EUA há 12 anos. Ele fez parte de um documentário que discute a lei que permite aos homossexuais servir o exército, e a situação de seus parceiros... Read Full Article

The other victims of Don't Ask, Don't Tell: the "Silent Partners" | I'm not only a gay veteran. I'm the partner of an active duty servicemember. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" isn't just a closet for people like me. It's a prison cell. It sucks everyone in and slams the bars behind them, shackles us all in manacles attached to the floor. Then an American flag is hung on the wall to cover up the door and muffle the cries coming from inside so the people serving openly won't be disturbed by us... Read Full Article

'Silent partner' examines what happens when people 'don't tell' | Ben Cartwright has been a passionate advocate for gay rights for 12 years. He is a regular at gay pride marches, has a pod-cast and writes for a gay newspaper in San Diego. The last thing he expected was to have to put a part of himself back into the closet... Read Full Article

Review - In Their Boots: Silent Partners | He knows something about hiding. He’s not a criminal and he’s not afraid of anything. He is, however, the same-sex partner of someone in the U.S. military... Read Full Article

Impressions... | Want to be brought to tears on the Internet? Take time to watch a half hour episode of "In their Boots" about the spouses of military personnel that have to live under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". There won't be a dry eye in the house. Please don't let the 30 minute running time of this brilliantly done documentary deter you from watching this moving and impressionable piece of the price that everyone is paying for DADT. -David Mixner

Silent Partners: The Other Victims of Don't Ask, Don't Tell | We hear a lot about the reasons to get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The fact that having openly gay servicemembers in the armed forces will do absolutely nothing to undermine the effectiveness of the military, whereas discharging gay Arabic translators like Lt. Dan Choi does plenty... Read Full Article

Freedom | And, yes, many of them are gay or lesbian and have to serve in silence - due to the onerous federal legislation known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell.Here's just one of the stories of someone, code-named "Sarah" to protect her identity, having to serve her country, fighting for our very freedoms, in silence... Read Full Article

Vet’s New Battle: Unemployment | Hector Torres spent two decades of his life serving his country as a soldier in the Army National Guard. In fall 2006, after working at Camp San Luis Obispo as a course manager and training instructor, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he saw combat... Read Full Article

Silent partners left behind by Don't Ask/ Don't Tell | Don’t Ask/ Don’t Tell affects LGBT American soldiers every day: the constant fear that they will be “found out," the uncertain future of career soldiers once they are forcefully discharged from the military... Read Full Article

Robert Greenwald on The Tavis Smiley Show | Robert Greenwald appears on PBS's Tavis Smiley show to discuss In Their Boots, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and issues facing veterans and their loved ones upon returning home. Watch the Show

300,000 Invisible Wounds and Counting | A 2008 study by the Rand Corporation on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression and Traumatic Brain INjury (TBI) contains the following stats: 1.64 million men and women have deployed to IRaq and/or Afghanistan since the beginning of the wars in those countries. An Estimated 300,000 service members struggle with PTSD, many of them still deployed. 320,000 likely have a TBI. Read Full Article

A Woman Soldier Speaks Out | This footage was taken from the panel that followed a screening of the IN THEIR BOOTS film, Angie’s Story at the UCLA School of Law on January 26th, 2009. Watch the Footage

Helping War Widows on Road Ahead | When your husband dies at war, the things he carried show up in six black boxes. Each pair of socks, each T-shirt, each love letter is inventoried on 20 sheets of paper. Everything has been washed, so when you breathe in the scent of a shirt, it doesn’t smell like him. Read Full Article

'In Their Boots,' Iraq Vet's Web Doc, Takes A Look At The Battles At Home | A lot of young veterans feel lost when they return home from a war zone. They've often been trained for very specific combat jobs, which don't always translate well to civilian life. But one 25-year-old former Marine, who was trained to cover fierce firefights in Iraq as a combat correspondent, has found an equally compelling calling as a civilian: He's telling war-related stories that are happening right here at home while the combat continues to rage in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read Full Article

On air with Tri-State Marine | Before joining the U.S. Marine Corps where he was trained as a combat correspondent, Jan Bender, 25, grew up playing football and working on his father's grain farm east of Poseyville, Ind. But during a tour of duty in Iraq, he found himself both a rifleman, armed with an M-16 and 9 mm pistol, and a cameraman... Read Full Article

OF SELFLESS SACRIFICE | On March 31, 2003, Round Rock resident and Army combat medic Cpl. Alan Babin was critically wounded in the stomach by hostile fire when he ran to the aid of a fellow soldier in Iraq. And with a grim prognosis, the 23-year-old's mother Rosie dropped everything to be by his bedside. Read Full Article

Webcasts focus on military families' lives | In a sunny courtyard in Culver City, Kim Roy was laughing at the role reversal. For the 15 months that her husband, Army Capt. Justin Roy, was serving in Afghanistan, Kim Roy was the parent-in-chief, juggling chores and taking care of their two boys in Yelm, Wash. Read Full Article

American Widow Project: It's Okay To Cry | American Widow Project and In Their Boots are doggedly non-political and nothing either group does is intended to comment on the wars, or the politics that surround them. In Their Boots is here to tell the stories and The American Widow Project is here to support the Families of the Men and Women who have given their lives in the service of their country. Read Full Article

Web series highlights Round Rock soldier's struggles | A severely wounded Iraq War soldier is still fighting to find his strength. "On the count of three we're going to stand up and we're going to pivot okay?" said Alan Babin’s physical therapist, Vance Black. Read Full Article

11- "In Their Boots"- Alan Babin and his Survival and Struggle | This is a special episode of H21-Southern Branch-Austin, Texas, chapter of the Combat Infantrymen's Association. We publish this because of a special event that occurred–the premiere screening of the first in a series of a documentary video that concerns the returning veterans from the Middle East. Read Full Article

Valley man injured in Afghanistan featured in Internet series | After losing his hand in Afghanistan, Jerry Cortinas knew it would take care and concentration to prevent his injury from taking over his life. Today, the story of this Brownsville man and his family's struggle against pessimism will premiere in the Internet series, "In Their Boots," from Brave New Films. Read Full Article

Barre native featured on live online tribute to military wives | YELM, Wash. – A Barre native who graduated from Spaulding High School in 1997 will be profiled tonight in an "Internet TV" series that explores the impacts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on soldiers' home communities. Kimberly Roy, the daughter of Tom and Linda Boyce, will appear in a two-part episode of the online series "In Their Boots." Read Full Article

Film follows one family's countdown to deployment | SAN DIEGO – Alyson Mellish and Amanda Raymond understand each other quite well. They're twin sisters, and they're Navy wives. So it was easy for Mellish to empathize when Raymond juggled emotions and logistical challenges ahead of her husband's deployment. Read Full Article