Educational Media Reviews Online

What It Means To Be a Veteran gives a brief history of the Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day holidays followed by the remembrances of American combat veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. The film emphasizes the common experiences and sacrifices of veterans across generations and how those common experiences shaped their post-service lives and psyches. The film neither glorifies combat nor condemns warfare, but simply explains some of the experiences each veteran experienced in combat in their own words, or in one case in the words of a relative. The combat experience shaped these veterans in ways that the lives of the peacetime military veterans were not touched, particularly in the observance of these holidays and their affection for their combat comrades. It is interesting that this effect seems extended to both male and female veterans.

The technical quality of What It Means To Be a Veteran is excellent. It is nicely edited, moving from interview footage to stock footage of combat scenes or equipment smoothly. Sound levels are consistent and interviews and narration are clear.

This film would enhance collections in history in academic and public libraries. What It Means To Be a Veteran is accompanied by an excellent, very thorough curriculum guide which supplements and supports the film as a teaching tool. The film itself would serve as a highlight in a unit on the resurgence of American patriotism since 9/11. It could also be used to augment the teaching of American history since World War II. Neither the film nor the guide mention the political or moral aspects of warfare.