“War is Hell”
- William Tecumseh Sherman
There is no other way to describe war than it being Hell on earth, but the effects of war do not stop once you leave the battlefield. I have written on my blog about my story of PTSD, but I want to share the story of a special man. His name is Lynn “Dobie” Gillies. He was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and one of his first missions as a brand new pilot was to rescue a group of Marines that were pinned down by heavy enemy fire. While flying in to rescue those Marines, Lynn’s helicopter took heavy fire from the enemy and his crew on board was killed. Lynn still managed to pilot the helicopter in, and save those Marines.
Lynn has lived with the effects of that day and other traumatic events that have haunted him for decades. His PTSD grew and he lost everything. His family, friends, and he almost took his own life because of it.
When Lynn and I decided to make this documentary of his life, we wanted it to be a story of courage and hope for anyone suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, not only those in the military and veteran community. PTSD does not discriminate and it can affect anyone who has suffered through a traumatic experience and the symptoms can be identical. If you are a family member of someone who has PTSD, this film can help you to understand what your loved one is going through by giving you insight on what they are feeling on the inside, but are too scared to tell you. Many with PTSD do not want to burden others with their problems, so we bottle it in until it has reached a point where we can no longer do that and then suicide seems like our only option. Lynn and I want to prevent it from reaching that point with this film.
I understand that many people have busy schedules and can not dedicate a lot of time to sitting down and watching a full film here on Steemit, so I decided I would break down the time frame of the film so you know where the key points of the story are.
• 0:00-8:20 – Intro and background as Mayor
• 8:20-16:51 – Enlisted Military service
• 16:51-23:18 – Flight School Training
• 23:18-36:10 – Vietnam War and Rescue
• 36:10-56:32 – Living with PTSD and message of hope
Thank you for coming by and checking out my film. If you liked it please upvote, resteem and comment. I would love to know what you thought of it. Please follow me for more of my content. I am a photographer and filmmaker and try to put out cool content that is different than the stuff that everyone else does here on this platform.
If you do share make a post to share this film, please do not embed the film in your post, please just put a link to this post in your post because I have found that my people who would view my film and trailer if it were embedded in another’s post, I am not able to see your comments and see if you liked my work. I spent hundreds of hours on this film and would like to know how feedback from everyone who saw it. If you do share it, I appreciate it because I want this film to reach as many people as possible because so many people can benefit from the message.
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Credits
Music:
Holding On (Cinematic Underscore) - Royalty Free music purchased from https://audioblocks.com.
Inspirational Epic by LuLuProduction - Royalty Free music purchased from https://motionarray.com.
Music during the film was scored by me using Filmstro.
B-Roll footage was obtained from the following documentaries:
Vietnam in HD: Search and Destroy - History Channel Documentary
CH-47A Chinook Helicopter in Vietnam 1st CAV Div - Periscope Film
Drill Sergeants - The Big Picture - US Army Pictorial Center
Chopper Pilot - The Big Picture - US Army Pictorial Center