Tomas Young is 28 years old, sexy, well-spoken, from Kansas City, MO, and unfortunately, a T4 paraplegic.
In 2003, he was shot and paralyzed by enemy fire (“Instantly dropping my AK 47,” he describes, after getting shot) after only 5 days in Iraq. Body of War is an amazing documentary that EVERYONE should see. Co-directed by the legendary Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, this film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March and is currently touring the country.
To learn more about this anti-war film, visit the it’s site, BodyofWar.com. Make sure to watch the trailer and to peruse it’s screening schedule; it may be coming to a city near you. I’m hoping that SOON it’ll be available on Netflix (I have the 3-disc unlimited plan), and I REALLY need to see this film in it’s entirety, instead of through dozens of various YouTube clips.
I almost had the opportunity to see it the first weekend of June here in Minneapolis at the National Free Press Conference, but due to PCA scheduling issues and my own damn fault, I couldn’t see the screening (or go to the awesome Q&A session afterwards with Phil Donahue). I’m still kicking myself over that.
ANYWAYS, Eddie Vedder (lead singer of Pearl Jam) wrote/performed a song for the film called, “No More.” It’s beautiful, poignant, and it makes me very happy to see such a high-profile musician affiliated with such an important film.
But yes, this film is great. It shows how brutal life with a SCI really is, how the VA has let Tomas down in re: to proper benefits to fully rehabilitate a paraplegic. and more importantly, how Iraq was a terrible mistake.
– Tiff
Yes, Agree. Iraq war one very wrong mistake. That’s why, as u are, I’m a stong supporter of Obama. Such a sad thing when u drop a weapon by mistake and it causes this. Tks for this bit of info Tiff. Laterzzz
Iraq was NOT a mistake, but that’s another debate. It is tragic when someone gets injured in the service of their country. However, what often get glassed over in these “poor injured veteran” stories is the fact that there has been no draft for decades. Therefore, anyone who is in the armed forces chose to be there, and accepted the risk of injury or death.
On Obama, let me get this straight: you’d rather have a president who kisses the ass of these Arab countries than one who will sacrifice his own popularity to go into a war that the intelligence he is provided tells him is necessary? Obama wants to negotiate with people who have a religious vendetta against the United States; indeed, the very people who were responsible for 9/11 and would do another one just like it again today if Bush hadn’t beefed up Homeland Security (there was no such department under Clinton). There’s no negotiating with these people. Under Obama, the new paraplegics won’t be ones who chose to go into the armed forces and risk injury, they will be people who showed up at work one morning in a New York high-rise that was blown up later in the day. Can you explain how that’s better? Or are you just going to delete my post since it doesn’t agree with yours?
yup, paralysis happens immediately.
hey jp, i’m not going to be a nazi regarding this post. what your beliefs and my beliefs boil down to are two very different ways to view the middle east. there really isnt anyway i’ll get you to agree with me, and vice-versa.
i’m an anti-war human being. no war is ever good in my opinion. you especially can’t force a country to be something it doesn’t want to be (iraq). i know all the arguments you’ll have ready to say to me regarding that belief, but you can save your breath for nothing will ever change my mind.
and “the poor injured veteran” stories as you sweetly put it. have you seen this documentary yet? the VA pretty much gave tomas the shittiest rehab ever. 3 yrs post, he’s still rolling around in an used, teal, shitty manual chair. it’s an embarrassment. if someone volunteers and gets injured, they should at least get proper care.
and btw, i whole-heartedly believe negotiation can work…..saying it won’t only makes us look like the pompous assholes we’ve become.
one more remark JP regarding your post. it’s not the arab countries that have a vendetta against us, it’s the islamic “jihad” terrorist organizations that do (the 9/11 terrorists were part of such a group).
obama won’t negotiate with these terrorist groups…youre right, theyre a lost cause. but the countries? i still believe there’s hope in finding common ground. call me a hope-monger all you want….but i believe it’s worth the effort and time of our hopefully future president obama.