After Action' Web Series Reports on Wounded American Soldiers

Staff-Sergeant Squad-Leader, Health Calhoun is an honorable man.  In November of 2003 a rocket-propelled grenade hit the rear of the truck that he was in while on duty in Iraq. The explosion took both his legs.

After the incident, Calhoun’s initial mode of transport was his wheelchair, but fearing an ever-growing sense of inertia and inactivity, he quickly gave it up for a pair of prosthetics. “I’m one of those people that if I used it this morning and I got up and I didn’t put my legs on and I wheeled around the house, it gets too easy,” Calhoun remarks. “And before you know it…I’m spending more time in wheelchair than I am walking.”

Since he’s gotten out of the chair, Calhoun has continued to raise his two little girls with his wife, learned to drive a Jeep with manual transmission, completed a two-month, 2,400 mile bike ride around the country, and helped to promote legislation implementing traumatic injury insurance for wounded vets.

Calhoun is also the focus of the premiere of After Action Report, a 10-episode, weekly web series highlighting extraordinary individuals who’ve overcome tremendous obstacles after sustaining serious injury in the line of duty. ###

Produced by For Your Imagination and hosted by actor Matthew Modine, the series is a product of the Wounded Warrior Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at assisting the over 25,000 veterans of United States armed forces who have been severely injured while on duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of active deployment around the world. The foundation provides “programs and services designed to ease the burdens of these heroes and their families, aid in the recovery process and smooth the transition back to civilian life.”

After Action Reports is showcasing the well-deserved fruits and success stories of Wounded Warrior’s altruistic labors.

The episodes watch like an older generation’s version of MTV’s True Life with an unapologetically patriotic overtone and without the Top 40 music track.  The series won’t get any points for being “cool,” but it does get a good score for being interesting. It provides a calm glimpse into the lives of real people that are often overlooked or under represented, and shows what life’s daily grind is like for the wounded adjusting back into it their families and communities.  

Regardless of your political affiliations, it’s clear that the US government has shown a distinct lack of ability to care for America’s wounded soldiers. It’s heartwarming to know some people and organizations are trying to help, and that their help is working.