San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
VET-TV’S new documentary series
There is no shortage of blood, guts and horror in the harrowing stories featured in the first documentary series from VET-TV, the San Diego-based subscription-videoon-demand channel dedicated to capturing all aspects of the military experience.
Each installment of the eight-episode series finds a Purple Heart recipient telling the detailed story of how they were wounded in combat. Humvees are struck and grenades are lobbed. Vertebrae are broken, organs are pierced and limbs are lost.
When the survivors gathered at the March Field Air Museum in Riverside to share the experiences that changed their lives, the show feels a lot like a group-therapy session. A session in which the participants are encouraged to pull no punches and omit no profanities. And if it surprises you that the name of this series is “Veterans Laughing Together,” you are definitely not a member of the VET-TV demographic.
“One thing that is consistent for everyone who has served is that when you get a bunch of them together, they are going to form a circle and tell stories. Usually the stories are really, really serious stories that they tell with a really dark sense of humor,” said Donny O’malley,vet-tv’s founder and CEO, who spent six years in the Marine Corps. “Dark humor is what you use to distance yourself from the tears and the sorrow that you feel deep in your soul. That is the power of humor.”
The series debuted July 8 with the story of Marine Corps Cpl. Paul Gardner, who was paralyzed from the waist down during a 2003 firefight in Iraq. A bullet destroyed Gardner’s spleen, collapsed his left lung and severed his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. But as he recounts the moments that followed, Gardner remembers how the gunner in the helicopter that was f lying him to safety couldn’t bear to look at him, and he remembers finding that funny. So does everyone else.
“Don’t look at the dying guy. Awkward!” Gardner says. Howls of recognition ensue.
Despite the title, the new documentary series is a serious departure for VET-TV. Since its online debut in 2017, the channel has focused on original fictional programming that is high on low humor and stereotypes that some critics and viewers have found offensive. While the language and the humor in “Veterans Laughing Together” is still pretty raw, the laughter is all about healing.
“You tell a story, you don’t feel that good. But when you hear people start laughing, you feel better immediately,” said O’malley, who lives in Escondido. “The sound of laughter is therapeutic. You feel loved when you hear the sounds of laughter.”
(VET-TV is available online at veterantv.tv and streaming via Apple, Google Play, Roku and Xbox.)
karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com