By: Anne Hall, Layout Designer 

The war against terrorism is the longest lasting war in U.S. history. As it continues on, the media scarcely identifies the current events related to its activities. People begin to forget that American troops are still fighting a battle that many no longer understand the significance of.

While he is working in Mobile, Alabama for the next six months, my husband brought to my attention that the local radio station’s morning show was addressing that the U.S. is currently in peacetime. The show also said that our United States Army will be downsized by the U.S. government during peacetime in order to reduce cost in military spending.

Among these issues, the creators of ‘Far From Afghanistan’ reflect on media coverage of the war, replaying imagery of the Twin Towers exploding on impact from the plane crashes, symbolizing the dust settling on America, while the people of Afghanistan suffer and casualties of innocents are constantly mutilated by our soldiers who are directed to follow orders.

This film is not for the faint of heart.  Anyone with post-traumatic stress disorder is advised to consider the effect that this film’s content may have and is advised to take heed before considering watching the film. There is no bias. There is no creative obstruction of the storyline. There is only documented film of events that have taken place in both America and Afghanistan due to this war and recorded statements from people that are living within the more than a decade worth of terror in its wake.  The dust may have settled in New York City on Sept. 11, but the dark cloud over our nation and its people will reign for generations to come.

“It was a very enlightening film which lifted the veil of current events that most Americans are oblivious to. Speaking for myself, I was unaware that we were still at war with Afghanistan and the imagery produced from watching the film was very heart wrenching and has made me curious as to why media only covers ‘two percent’ of this war,” Lana Cook, film screening attendee, said.

A fellow student and Veteran who attended the screening was not willing to share his perspective of the film because of the hardship that he encountered by watching the film. The content truly hit home, and touches on issues that spark emotions that run deep.

As soldiers return home and are slowly discharged from service due to government budget cutbacks, they are left to society and their families to work through the horrors that were experienced in the name of protecting and defending a country that appears to have forgotten about them.  Our military counts every soldier as a body. When that body is unfit to fulfill its purpose, it is disregarded in a manner that is of the smallest expense to government funding as possible, in hopes of saving the taxpayers’ dollars. Yet in the long run, this is costing society and the Department of Veterans Affairs far more in expenses for being proactive in finding these people help.

“I am aware that the war in Afghanistan is still going on even though our media acts like it is over.  I get my information from a news page on Facebook that I follow, and through word of mouth when I discuss recent news with friends and family. I do not know why the troops are there. My guess is that they are keeping a watch on Al-Qaeda to make sure they do not attack the U.S. again,” an Events Assistant at the Clarke and the University Student Union, Gabri Provencio, said.

“Sequestration and budget pressures continue to place unacceptable pressure on our Army, its soldiers, families and civilian employees. Military retirement and retiree health care programs are under attack by those who view the programs as ‘overly generous’ and programs affecting the Army’s ability to train and equip its forces are whittled away,” according to the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) News membership report for 2014.

There is so much to the story still untold.  The average civilian will never have the capacity to fully understand.  There is no true way of describing the full experience of tragedy that is suffered by a soldier or sailor that joined the service to defend the rights of his or her people to find out that their sacrifices were ignored.

‘Far From Afghanistan’ is a film that should not be missed.  This act of humanitarianism does not end with just the film.  Various organizations work with the developers of the film to create public awareness.  For more information, visit http://farfromafghanistan.org.