"Experiences I Tried to Forget"

Comcast Technician and Team Makes a Short Film by and for Veterans through the Patton Film Project

Watch the film at youtu.be/Z_zyanWvw2k

By Jonathon Humphreys

It was my manager who first told me about the Patton Veterans Film Project. He emailed me and suggested I would be a good candidate to participate in the three-day crash-course in filmmaking, which is specifically designed for veterans and offered by my employer, Comcast, and the Patton Veterans Project.

I had no experience making films, but I went in with an open mind, hoping I could tell my story and show my struggles with PTSD from my multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq and the challenges of transitioning out of the military. When I had first gotten hired as a technician at Comcast, I was only six months out of a combat tour in Afghanistan, which I had spent doing route clearance on Highway 1, the main route connecting Kabul with the rest of the country.

I did well during my eight years in the Army and three combat tours. I ended up going to Iraq shortly after arriving at my first duty station. I was young — just 21 — and didn’t let a lot bother me. Later, I was transferred to Fort Drum, N.Y., and 30 days after that, I was in Afghanistan.

Shortly after we got back, I met the woman who would become my wife, and we soon got married. With all the sudden changes in my life, I started to feel the effects of PTSD and anxiety creeping in.

I discovered that when you get married, you stop thinking about your own needs. I didn’t have a care in the world on my prior deployments. When I was single, I didn’t have to worry about who was taking care of my wife while I was away or the feeling of, “Wow, I’m going to be separated from my life partner for a whole year.” I decided after that deployment that I was going to get out, and no one was going to keep me away from my family or what I want to accomplish in life.

When I got back home to Oregon, I started working for Comcast. I knew my military background was one of the driving factors that helped me get hired. It was clear that the company was proud of the veterans already on their teams. The hiring managers told me about VetNet, a resource group for employees who served in the military, and how much Comcast appreciates and loves to thank veterans.

About a year into the job, I had a really bad day. Experiences I had tried to forget started to come back up like a bottle of soda that has been sitting in the sun too long. That was when I saw the dedication of my Comcast team to make sure we all succeed and win together.

I was sitting in my van in a Burger King parking lot, frozen in place. I managed to call my supervisor and let him know I needed to go home and that I couldn’t talk about it. He respected my wishes and asked no questions: just gave me the rest of the day off. But I ended up telling him what was going on and that I was going to get some help.

He told me to take as much time as I needed and reassured me that my health and well-being always come first. That understanding really meant a lot.

This article was supposed to be about what I got out of the Patton Veterans Film Project, but I felt like you needed the backstory for it to make sense. When I first arrived at the filmmaking workshop, I noticed that I was the only guy in the room on the student/veteran side of things. I briefly considered leaving, but as it turns out, a couple of people showed up late, and I became more comfortable with the plan for the weekend of moviemaking.

I went into the workshop with a lot of unknowns about what we were going to do. I can be shy or standoffish, but by the end of our movie, I was helping our group and putting in my own two cents to make sure that my story was heard and didn’t get lost in the mix with the three other veterans who were working on it.

The Patton Veterans Film Project is led by Ben Patton, General George S. Patton’s grandson. He is such a cool guy and kept everything on a personal level with us, which matters because it gives us veterans the feeling that he is comfortable with us and he is only there because he wants to be and wants to help.

Jonathon Humphreys, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, partnered up with Comcast, the Patton Veterans Project and other veterans to make a film that he hopes will inspire others to get the help they need.

His crew was top-notch. I didn’t realize we would be working with professional videographers flown in to assist us. My group was led by a videographer named Chris, who brought everyone together as a unit. He is a quiet person, but when it was time to start making the movie magic happen, he was never afraid to show us a better approach or try something that we didn’t know was possible. He made us comfortable by finding ways for us to answer our own questions.

In our film, we wanted to use pictures from our military service as props. I realized that during the five years I’ve been out of the military, I have lost touch with some of the most influential people in my life — and some of my best friends. This was one of the biggest surprises for me.

I didn’t get a lot of sleep after I realized this. I went on a mission to find more pictures from my buddies who I am still in contact with, and I ended up getting a ton of pictures and having some good conversations about what we’re all doing. I explained the filmmaking project and all of them seemed very responsive.

Ben told us that movie making can be a therapeutic experience and I agree. It’s hard when you’re putting yourself out there like this to not think, “Should I be doing this? Are my coworkers going to understand what I was trying to say, or will they just dismiss it?” I felt like I took a risk putting myself out there, making a short film, and then having it screened at the Portland Film Festival.

I’m grateful to Comcast, and especially Brig. Gen. Carol Eggert (who I got to meet at the Film Festival) for making this experience possible. The bonus: I got to meet some great vets, and we all shared contact info so we can stay in touch.