POST SCRIPTS

interview/”>his webpage and read the whole story of Pat Dollard, a man who “traded a life of luxury as a Hollywood agent for that of a war journalist dodging bullets and shrapnel alongside the Marines in Iraq. He did it so you could see the truth…his version of the truth.”

(website contains some adult language)

I thought I was going to the place I knew from the news, a place where combat meant an occasional “roadside bomb” (a.k.a. an IED) exploding. The notion of a 24/7 engagement never entered my mind. That misconception ended the first night I arrived in Camp Kalsu, 25 miles south of Baghdad, outside Iskandariyah, in an area commonly referred to as the Triangle of Death—and my new home for the next three months.

The average marine was proud to be there doing his job…. They knew what they were doing there, that they were keeping Iraq from turning into a terrorist state that would have made Afghanistan under the Taliban look like Disneyland.

Making this movie cost me everything. I am a virtual outcast in Hollywood. After photos from a haircut party at Camp Iskandariyah made it back to the States, there were pictures of me with a new Mohawk and die shaved in my chest, and rumors swelled that I had finally snapped and turned into Travis Bickle, De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver. No one in L.A. understood what men in a combat zone would do to break the monotony, to create a chance to laugh…I’m going back to Ramadi as soon as possible.

If anyone has wondered about Americans making a sacrifice in this war they should talk to Pat Dollard. He has sacrificed everything to witness for himself the everyday reality of our military and the truth about their mission. Because of his sacrifice you and I will soon have an opportunity to share in his experience.