Hey! We are still at war you know. Actually we are in at least three wars spread over Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Men are being killed every day in one or more of these three wars. Yet the film makers and TV producers have run away. Oh a few years back we had a smattering of films that were sort of on topic but they pretty much all sucked. One of the worst was the stupid, slanderous and twisted portrayal of the Marine Corps in “Jar Head.” Yet the voice has silenced and the picture has faded away from much of our culture. Nevertheless it really is still with us and the impact it is having on thousands of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines and their families is a gigantic human drama that is being coldly ignored. So here is my challenge to all of you film makers and TV producers. Rather than continuing to put out utter rubbish such as a so called “reality” show about three profoundly vacuous marginally attractive women who collect basketball players as boy toys, why not produce at least one good show or one good movie about the real lives of American fighting men and their families. I’ll bet you it would quickly find a strong audience. Here, I will even give you some great material to start with.
Allow me to introduce you to the Adams family. No not that “Addams Family” but the Adams family that live just outside of Burbank, California on a small piece of property where you could, if you wished, keep a horse. The family as I have known it consists of an always smiling senior lady I just call grandma and she doesn’t seem to mind. Then there is Mike, a fellow native of the mid west and a very hard working man. Jill is the wife and mother of two boys, Jason and T.J. Pretty dull so far but hang in there.
On his 18th birthday T.J. enlisted in the United States Army against every wish of his mom. But T.J. was driven by a sense of deep commitment to country and a desire to make a real difference in the war on terror. We can forego the temptation to engage in political debate here because it is irrelevant to the story. But T.J. didn’t just join the Army, he asked for and got the job of infantryman, a grunt, a person assured to get in the s**t. That was a little over a year ago and soon enough he landed in that great tourist mecca of Afghanistan.
About a month ago the Adams family started to encounter some deep tragedy. It started when the mom, Jill, got word that her son had been severely wounded and was being evacuated by helicopter to a nearby field hospital where there was slim hope he might be saved. How did Jill get this message? Well obviously it came from someone in the military. Nope. Okay, so then it was the Red Cross, right? Nope again. It came from a neighbor who had seen it live on CNN. There was his lifeless looking body on a stretcher being lifted into the Helicopter with the character generator labeling him as PFC T.J. Adams for the entire world, except his mother, to see. It took three days for her to learn that a piece of shrapnel had sliced open the main aorta in his neck resulting in profuse bleeding that could result only in certain death but for immediate and competent medical attention. That image of T.J. Adams on television showed him literally minutes from death. Three days later Jill Adams and the rest of the family learned that T.J. had survived, barely and would soon be transferred to better facilities in Germany. Just try to imagine the sheer terror that consumed Jill Adams for those three long horrific days of not knowing if her son was dead or alive.
Within a few days of this dark event Jill took grandma to see the doctor. No big deal except that the doctor discovered that grandma had breast cancer and required immediate surgery to save her life. Following that surgery grandma would be given chemo therapy for several weeks and if all went well she would continue to live many more years.
So while the 19 year old T.J. was fighting for his life in an Army field hospital, his grandma began her own fight in a hospital in L.A. Hey mister film maker or TV producer, do we have enough gut wrenching drama yet? No? Well then add this.
As all this was playing out the principal bread winner in the family, Mike got let go from his long time place of employment. So now we have a son with a severe combat injury, grandma undergoing chemo therapy and essentially no income. Still not enough drama?
As it happens, Jason the 16 year old has epilepsy. His is the kind that will most likely stay with him his entire life. This reality has severely limited Jason’s life options. And recently good ol’ Jill has discovered a plethora of other somewhat related medical conditions that are impacting harshly on Jason’s life. And it almost worsens it all to know that in many ways Jason is also an extremely bright young man. Yet believe it or not there is still more.
Many years ago now Jill was severely injured in a horseback riding accident. That injury has left her disabled and makes taking care of the rest of her family an even greater challenge.
Wow! Now here is a reality show or even a feature film. Most folks would crumble under a fraction of this hardship. Yet when you meet the Adams family the most common facial expression is a bright smile. They are a family of faith and somehow they have not lost that faith. A few weeks back at the peak of all of this I arranged with the Burbank International Film Festival and Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank to treat grandma and Jill to a night of comedy and salute their wounded child. I figured that if there was ever a woman in desperate need of a good laugh it was Jill Adams. Jill and her mom loved it and I thank both organizations for their help.
Happily T.J Adams is home now, recuperating and actually awaiting an opportunity to return to Afghanistan in part to avenge the deaths of several of his brother soldiers. As it turned out T.J. was one of the lucky ones that day, many others died.
So here is your “treatment” studio moguls. Here is real life drama, tragedy and even hope. Sadly it is but one of many such stories across our nation yet it is a story begging to be told. While we debate the budget and fret about America’s football franchise, real Americans such as the Adams family continue to live in the shadows bearing the brunt of our national defense with barely a mention. This I say is a true reality show.
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