Today, America has nearly 18 million living military veterans, from the Second World War to those coming home from recent tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A new four-part series debuting on PBS Tuesday night, "American Veteran" shines a light on the veteran experience with a stunning range of voices from today and across the span of American history.
“It is really compelling stuff,” consulting producer Kelly Kennedy told CBS’ Eye on Veterans. “The World War II footage just blew me away. They have got great footage of women service members, of African American service members.”
Created by GBH, the series also traces the veteran experience through a nine-part podcast, and a 10-part series of digital shorts.
Kennedy is an Army veteran, managing editor of War Horse, a best-selling author, and an award-winning journalist. She deployed during both Desert Storm and saw action in Somalia.
Every voice featured in American Veteran, from narrators to interviews to scholars, is a veteran’s.
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“I volunteered for missions because I couldn’t stop,” one veteran said.
In episode 1, veterans share their boot camp experience.
“I love how everyone describes how bad it is,” Kennedy said. “Now it’s funny. Now it’s a communal experience. Now it’s why every veteran can sit down next to a veteran at a bar and have something to talk about. We’ve all been through that little bit of suck and made it.”
Every story these veterans relate contributes to our exploration of the shifting relationships, over time and today, between Americans who have served in the military and those who have not.
Episode 2 focuses on deployment. A World War II vet discussed having to open the back gate of an amphibious vehicle to let soldiers out on the beach and how the machine guns were hitting all around them.
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“Immediately they are gunned down,” she said. “What was competing to me about that was he was obviously in the thick of it. He talked about the kid next to him with red hair. He remembered that detail.”
The veteran also discussed being old enough to drink, but not being old enough to vote while being old enough to die for the country.
“That’s it in a nutshell,” Kennedy said. “You aren’t considered capable of making these big decisions on your own and you haven’t really lived enough of life to make big decisions. We’ll just put you in the military in the first place because if you’re 26 your not going to join in most cases.”
Episodes 3 and 4 focus on coming home from war and becoming a civilian following military service.
“One of the reasons I’m so proud of this series is everyone’s experience is so different,” Kennedy said. “We all come in young, but such diverse backgrounds. They included such a different group of people.”
American Veteran airs Tuesday nights through Nov. 16 on PBS. For more information, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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