Posted on Apr 27, 2015
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This past weekend, I was catching up on my favorite TV shows and an ad for an episode of "NCIS: Los Angeles" came on. What I saw really made me upset. The preview of the upcoming episode was that there was a Veteran who returned home from war only to pick up a rifle and target civilians in and around the city.
While I understand that TV needs to sell and all that. But what is making me upset is the number of TV shows going to this plot over and over again. All these do is set back all our efforts to show Veterans as the strong and driven future leaders that we are.
What is the point of continuously showing Veterans as these crazed, gun carrying crazy people unable to transition into the community? Why not show some of our battles but in a way that let's Veterans and the general community know that what we are going through, the battles within, are happening to others. That you aren't alone. That there are people out here willing and able to help.
The idea of us all being a crazy, gun carrying, crazy person has passed it's prime. I feel that if we come together on one united front as brothers and sisters-in-arms, we can help show people what Veterans are really made of. And hopefully, we impact Veterans directly.
TV Show, Transition,
While I understand that TV needs to sell and all that. But what is making me upset is the number of TV shows going to this plot over and over again. All these do is set back all our efforts to show Veterans as the strong and driven future leaders that we are.
What is the point of continuously showing Veterans as these crazed, gun carrying crazy people unable to transition into the community? Why not show some of our battles but in a way that let's Veterans and the general community know that what we are going through, the battles within, are happening to others. That you aren't alone. That there are people out here willing and able to help.
The idea of us all being a crazy, gun carrying, crazy person has passed it's prime. I feel that if we come together on one united front as brothers and sisters-in-arms, we can help show people what Veterans are really made of. And hopefully, we impact Veterans directly.
TV Show, Transition,
TV
Transition
PTSD
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 36
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The point of showing Veterans as gun crazy folks, unable to fold back into civilian life is just part of the liberal media, of which Hollywood is included trying to push a left wing agenda. The won't show anything, report anything, or write a movie that actually reflects the truth of being in service or out. The last solid piece of work I know out of Hollywood was Saving Private Ryan. They produce so much fluff because there are so few of them with any experience in military life. A very good teacher I had once told me in regard to writing, only ever write about something you have experience with. If they followed that, how many stories would come out about drinking, drugs, casual sex, and dodging taxes? Quite truthful, but not very riveting.
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The distressing thing is that some people think that these are accurate portrayals
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Ben,
Unfortunately most of the scripts out of Hollywood are driven by an agenda. Such as 30% of the population is gay, they just don't know it yet.
The one before that was every tragic death in a script, was caused by a Drunk Driver. So overused, it kind of a joke in the industry now.
The latest one is only sane people should have guns. Sounds good right, except who is defining sane?
A February 2012 memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lays out a process pursuant to which the VA has been regularly sending to the FBI mental health information about VA patients. The mental health information transferred is intended to aid the FBI in adding individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) list of individuals restricted from owning or possessing guns.
So these scripts are part of the big push. Those that write such scripts know it increases the chance it will be produced. So more scripts have these storylines.
People keep hearing the same thing over and over it has to be true, Right? Is the Big Picture coming into view now?
The push back is to put your DVR on Skip for that show and ones like it. The Industry gets instant feedback on skipped shows on DVR. One the reasons HBO produces "Band Of Brothers" was to get back it's lost subscribers. It worked, now you see a more balanced schedule on HBO.
Frats,
Emmett
Unfortunately most of the scripts out of Hollywood are driven by an agenda. Such as 30% of the population is gay, they just don't know it yet.
The one before that was every tragic death in a script, was caused by a Drunk Driver. So overused, it kind of a joke in the industry now.
The latest one is only sane people should have guns. Sounds good right, except who is defining sane?
A February 2012 memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lays out a process pursuant to which the VA has been regularly sending to the FBI mental health information about VA patients. The mental health information transferred is intended to aid the FBI in adding individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) list of individuals restricted from owning or possessing guns.
So these scripts are part of the big push. Those that write such scripts know it increases the chance it will be produced. So more scripts have these storylines.
People keep hearing the same thing over and over it has to be true, Right? Is the Big Picture coming into view now?
The push back is to put your DVR on Skip for that show and ones like it. The Industry gets instant feedback on skipped shows on DVR. One the reasons HBO produces "Band Of Brothers" was to get back it's lost subscribers. It worked, now you see a more balanced schedule on HBO.
Frats,
Emmett
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SSgt (Join to see)
Maj Emmett Conrecode And most of the time, conservatives are portrayed as rich and uncaring and evil. Seldom a democrat in that.
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The fact of the matter is America has a stigma about veterans returning from war. Many believe that everyone returning has PTSD that is dangerous. In our nation people say they support our hero's yet the President had to create an incentive payment for these same companies to hire VET's. It is not all bad though as many companies do support our returning warriors and did not need the incentive payment.
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Well I work in a VA and from that and some incidents around the local base I would say that there is a slight, slight truth to it. I've always felt the NCIS series tried to bring to light how many of our brothers and sisters are coming home broken and no one seems to care or take it seriously...until they pick up a rifle and start targeting civilians.
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SSG Bruce Booker
Thank you for reminding us of that, SGT Sutton. And thank you for your service, and for working to help other veterans. I appreciate that shows like NCIS are shedding light on our brothers and sisters who need help and don't get it. That is a critically important message. But when is someone also going to add a little perspective and tell the story that, while many of us came home 'broken' to one degree or another, most of us will never even come close to 'picking up a rifle and targeting civilians'?
I'll suggest that we face two problems. Veterans who need help often aren't getting it, and all veterans are pretty much painted with the same brush as the few who do to off and do something violent.
I'll suggest that we face two problems. Veterans who need help often aren't getting it, and all veterans are pretty much painted with the same brush as the few who do to off and do something violent.
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I am a Vietnam Veteran. Until recently, I tried to hide that fact because of the 'baby killer' stigma that went along with it. Along with my memories from Vietnam, I also remember walking through the San Francisco airport in uniform, trying to get home to see family after I returned from Vietnam. I got spit on, just because I happened to be a soldier in uniform. Then the 'crazy veteran' movies and TV shows took off. I was embarrassed and a little bit afraid to admit that I was a veteran, so I usually just covered it up.
I went on to have a 37-year career in law enforcement in a major metropolitan area. Over the years, I met many other veterans from wars ranging from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan, in both personal and professional settings. Most of them are normal, ordinary people, just like most non-veterans. Did I encounter dangerous, deranged people? Yes. But it seldom had anything to do with being a veteran. Most of them were not veterans, and when they were veterans there was often something else that set them off. (If there is a consistent difference between veterans and non-veterans, it is that veterans generally learned discipline and self-control better than the average citizen.) But you wouldn't get that by watching TV and movies. We're all a bunch of dangerous, deranged nut cases wandering around just waiting to go off.
I put most 'veteran' movies and TV shows in the same category with most 'cop' movies and TV shows. There is usually a little kernel of fact and truth, wrapped in a huge ball of unrealistic fiction. They make for exciting entertainment, but have little to do with the real world.
The 'news' media doesn't help. When they run a negative story about a veteran, they usually find a way to include his/her veteran status in the story, regardless of whether or not that has anything to do with what happened. Think about the number of 'deranged veteran' stories we see on the news, and the frequency with which we see them. If you compare that to the total number of veterans, it's really an extremely small percentage. That's not to say that many veterans don't have physical and emotional baggage to deal with. I have my own baggage from Vietnam and from a career in law enforcement. It is just that most of us deal with it without going off on a violent rampage. But you wouldn't get that from watching 'yet another crazy veteran' news stories. (Sensationalism attracts audiences, and that brings in advertising dollars.)
If people apply negative stereotypes to groups of people based on their ethnicity or gender, we brand them as racists or sexists. But when they apply the same negative stereotypes to veterans, no one except other veterans seems to give a damn. I don't think a non-veteran can really fully understand what it is to be a veteran, especially a combat veteran. You can't explain it. You can only experience it. And so, much of the general public forms their opinions of veterans (and cops) based on the crap they see on TV, movie screens, and sensational 'news' stories.
So there are some things that we as veterans just have to live with. That isn't right, it's just the way it is. I hope that veterans from the current generation will get more help with that than veterans from my generation got.
I went on to have a 37-year career in law enforcement in a major metropolitan area. Over the years, I met many other veterans from wars ranging from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan, in both personal and professional settings. Most of them are normal, ordinary people, just like most non-veterans. Did I encounter dangerous, deranged people? Yes. But it seldom had anything to do with being a veteran. Most of them were not veterans, and when they were veterans there was often something else that set them off. (If there is a consistent difference between veterans and non-veterans, it is that veterans generally learned discipline and self-control better than the average citizen.) But you wouldn't get that by watching TV and movies. We're all a bunch of dangerous, deranged nut cases wandering around just waiting to go off.
I put most 'veteran' movies and TV shows in the same category with most 'cop' movies and TV shows. There is usually a little kernel of fact and truth, wrapped in a huge ball of unrealistic fiction. They make for exciting entertainment, but have little to do with the real world.
The 'news' media doesn't help. When they run a negative story about a veteran, they usually find a way to include his/her veteran status in the story, regardless of whether or not that has anything to do with what happened. Think about the number of 'deranged veteran' stories we see on the news, and the frequency with which we see them. If you compare that to the total number of veterans, it's really an extremely small percentage. That's not to say that many veterans don't have physical and emotional baggage to deal with. I have my own baggage from Vietnam and from a career in law enforcement. It is just that most of us deal with it without going off on a violent rampage. But you wouldn't get that from watching 'yet another crazy veteran' news stories. (Sensationalism attracts audiences, and that brings in advertising dollars.)
If people apply negative stereotypes to groups of people based on their ethnicity or gender, we brand them as racists or sexists. But when they apply the same negative stereotypes to veterans, no one except other veterans seems to give a damn. I don't think a non-veteran can really fully understand what it is to be a veteran, especially a combat veteran. You can't explain it. You can only experience it. And so, much of the general public forms their opinions of veterans (and cops) based on the crap they see on TV, movie screens, and sensational 'news' stories.
So there are some things that we as veterans just have to live with. That isn't right, it's just the way it is. I hope that veterans from the current generation will get more help with that than veterans from my generation got.
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SGT Ben Keen
Wow, simply wow! Thank you SSG Bruce Booker! This has to be one of the best if not best comments to any posting I've seen on here in a long time.
Before I continue, just let me say thank you for your service and welcome home. I always tell people as I give interviews and lead talks in front of hundreds of people that the only reason, and I mean ONLY REASON why I and all the rest of the Post 9/11 Veterans have it as good as we have it is because of the awful treatment people like you and countless others went through when you came home. It's no secret that the internal war within us rages one long after we step off the battlefield but the things you went through are just....just...heck I can't think of the strong enough word to other than bull$hit.
It is sad to see people feel like they have no other answer but to hide their service. It wasn't until very recently that it became okay to say "Yes I'm a Veteran" yet with shows and movies like the one I mentioned, we are facing the possibility of returning to those days.
Again, thank you for your comment and your service. I'm honored to stand along side you.
Before I continue, just let me say thank you for your service and welcome home. I always tell people as I give interviews and lead talks in front of hundreds of people that the only reason, and I mean ONLY REASON why I and all the rest of the Post 9/11 Veterans have it as good as we have it is because of the awful treatment people like you and countless others went through when you came home. It's no secret that the internal war within us rages one long after we step off the battlefield but the things you went through are just....just...heck I can't think of the strong enough word to other than bull$hit.
It is sad to see people feel like they have no other answer but to hide their service. It wasn't until very recently that it became okay to say "Yes I'm a Veteran" yet with shows and movies like the one I mentioned, we are facing the possibility of returning to those days.
Again, thank you for your comment and your service. I'm honored to stand along side you.
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There are many veterans who are a danger to themselves and others because they have not had proper counseling or taken the time to learn how to tame the killer that was created in the Calderon of combat. If I had not developed a particular set of skills to tame the particular changes that occurred in my personality I would be a very different person; a very dangerous person. Pretending that PTSD does not exist is a recipe for disaster. My personal anecdotal belief is that everyone that deploys to combat returns with some degree of PTSD. The problem is they do not recognize it until they make some catastrophic decision(s). Yes vets are broken but not always beyond repair.
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SGT Ben Keen
While I agree with some of your points SFC Emerson "Zeus" Hazzard, the one point that I disagree with you is that Veterans are "broken". While some Veterans do come home missing body part and appearing to be broken; the one thing inside each of us that started our days by lacing up a pair of mid-calf all leather combat boots is our internal drive to push ourselves forward. We aren't broken. We are just looking for the right time and the right place to be allowed to show our abilities.
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SGT (Join to see)
SFC Emerson,
Great post and I couldn't agree with you more about the additional set of skills a combat vet needs to learn after we get home. I am in the same boat as you, anger was my issue I couldn't take people even talking about it to me, with out loosing it. I wasn't a ticking time bomb more like, a large dangerous animal, while left alone I was fine, but if provoked I would have no problem attacking. It took a second tour in all honesty to see my issues coming out of junior soldiers and helping them get thru it to make me understand my issues.
Great post and I couldn't agree with you more about the additional set of skills a combat vet needs to learn after we get home. I am in the same boat as you, anger was my issue I couldn't take people even talking about it to me, with out loosing it. I wasn't a ticking time bomb more like, a large dangerous animal, while left alone I was fine, but if provoked I would have no problem attacking. It took a second tour in all honesty to see my issues coming out of junior soldiers and helping them get thru it to make me understand my issues.
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SGT Keen,
Great post, and this just feeds into the Stigma that is PTSD, TBIs and Depression for us Veterans. You are absolutely correct in your post, all this is doing is strengthening the stigma for businesses, universities and corporate America, making it harder and harder for Veterans to get jobs, education and help.
Glad you posted this.
Lance
Great post, and this just feeds into the Stigma that is PTSD, TBIs and Depression for us Veterans. You are absolutely correct in your post, all this is doing is strengthening the stigma for businesses, universities and corporate America, making it harder and harder for Veterans to get jobs, education and help.
Glad you posted this.
Lance
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But heres the thing-its not us crazy vets doing the gun and violence-yes we have some issues, but its those wanna bees that run around doing most of it. So how about some stuff showinfg vets going out for good-like Team Rubicon or others, its our story-let us direct the show
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I'm transitioning to a private sector career after having served over 20 years and being a combat veteran. The distorted image of veterans portrayed by television and movies is not helping. Neither is the well intentioned buzz about PTSD, TBI and suicide--the problem is real and serious, but without proper perspective it makes us all look like ticking time bombs. There are "hire a veteran" campaigns out there, but they focus on entry level jobs rather than professional or executive level skills and experience that a longer serving veteran like me can bring to an organization.
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