Archive for: Milblogging

Talking Act of Valor

Military​.com hosted the 2012 Milblog conference May 11–12 in Arlington, VA and one of the highlights was a visit from Act of Valor co-director Scott Waugh, who was in town to promote the movie’s June 5th release on Blu-ray and DVD. We loved AOV back when it opened back in February and the $12-million film’s $24.5 million opening box office weekend looks even more impressive after this past weekend’s Battleship release. That $209 million Pentagon-approved studio picture barely made it it a $25.3 million gross even after they slapped the Battleship logo all over Coke Zero cans and Subway sandwich wrappers.

Scott sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Miltary​.com editor Ward Carroll that was streamed live by our friends at the You Served military blog. They preserved the evidence so now you can watch Scott tell Ward why fellow director Mike “Mouse” McCoy wasn’t available to join us and explode a lot of myths about just how the movie got made. He’s particularly eloquent when he talks about how close he got to the SEALs and their families during production and how important it was for him to get their stories right.

The Lost Milblogs of WWII

Here’s a heartwarming story about WWII’s own version of Milblogging: Trevor McIntyre is a B-29 enthusiast in Morganton, GA who bid on a group of letters sent home by a WWII airman. After receiving the package and reading through the correspondence, he contacted the plane’s company leader and learned that the guy who wrote the letters, filled with details and thoughts about his service, was still alive.

McIntyre tracked down 90-year-old Sgt. Dave LeMal and hand-delivered the letters to him in Pennsylvania. LeMal had no idea his mother had kept the letters so he had no idea they’d been sold. When asked why he went to so much effort for someone he didn’t know, McIntyre replied that WWII vets “believed that a better tomorrow could be reached from a bad today. Meeting Dave and returning the letters, it’s just my small part of trying to repay that debt.” (via 11Alive Atlanta)

Exploring PTSD in Happy New Year

At this year’s MilBlog conference I got the chance to meet a team a filmmakers out promoting their film, Happy New Year. The director, Lorrel Manning, has seen the project grow from a stage short to a feature film — and has faced both praise and criticism for the way he portrays PTSD in the project. We invite you, the UTR reader, to take a look at this exclusive clip from the film and check out our 5 questions with Lorrel and tell us what you think - 


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