‘The War Comes Home: The New Battlefront’ profiles new ways to treat PTS

Did you know that every 65 minutes a veteran takes their own life? Or that over 30 percent of all veterans have considered suicide?  And that more US personnel have died by suicide since the war in Afghanistan be…
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Did you know that every 65 minutes a veteran takes their own life? Or that over 30 percent of all veterans have considered suicide?  And that more US personnel have died by suicide since the war in Afghanistan began than have died fighting there?


One week changes everything.  Save A Warrior (SAW) is the original warrior-led conversation that provides a well-grounded and commonsense week-long healing experience for active duty military, veterans, and first responders who are struggling with post-traumatic stress (PTS).  On Tuesday, May 24 at 7:00 pm, a nationwide screening of award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien’s acclaimed documentary “The War Comes Home: The New Battlefront” will be shown in movie theaters around the country.  

This moving film follows the journeys of Delon Beckett and Garrett Combs, two young men who came home from war, and their personal battles of the wars that came home with them.  For both veterans, within months of returning, their relationships were crumbling, their children were frightened of their rages, and suicide became a choice they both thought could be a solution for their anguish.

These two men are not alone. One in five veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, or severe depression, cited in a Rand Corporation study.  Post-traumatic stress is a significant predictor of suicide among all veterans. Almost 8,000 veterans of all U.S. wars commit suicide each year, and more than 22 veterans take their own lives each day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The film chronicles their experiences and powerful transformations as they make their way through the Save A Warrior program (www.saveawarrior.org).  SAW is an innovative program founded and led by Jake Clark, a U.S. Army veteran, and former Secret Service, LAPD, and FBI.  The intensive week-long residential program includes equine therapy, training in Warrior Meditation, and physically and emotionally demanding trust exercises. Warriors access their own internal adaptive mechanisms and experience profound life-changing transformations.

Two months following their participation in SAW, both men appear remarkably changed as they describe the progress they have made.  Combs speaks optimistically about pursuing his career dreams and becoming a better father; Beckett talks about reconnecting with his children and pours the alcohol down the drain that he had grown dependent upon to medicate his pain.

“The War Comes Home: The New Battleground” is produced by Soledad O’Brien‘s Starfish Media Group.  The nationwide Fathom Event will be shown only on Tuesday, May 24 at 7:00pm at nearly 300 theaters across the country.  For tickets visit FathomEvents.com.

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