Last Wednesday and Thursday BRAVO! was screened to several hundred enthusiastic and earnest viewers in Fresno and Clovis, California.

On Wednesday the film was shown at the Fresno Veterans Affairs facility and on Thursday BRAVO! screened twice at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District’s state-of-the-art theater. The screenings went well and were attended by veterans old and new, active duty military personnel and folks interested in the history of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War.

Lt. Colonel Ken Pipes, USMC Retired and commanding officer (Skipper) of Bravo Company during the siege of Khe Sanh, came up from Southern California with his wife Sharon to help us out with the screenings. Skipper Pipes graduated from Clovis High School and attended Fresno City College and then graduated from Fresno State before being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Before and after each screening, the Skipper graced us with his memories of Clovis and Fresno as well as Marines he knew from the area. The Skipper also waxed eloquent about the men of Bravo Company. We were also fortunate to meet some of Ken Pipes’ wonderful family.

Khe Sanh brother Alex Dominguez came up from the Los Angeles area and presented BRAVO! co-producer Ken Rodgers with a commemorative Marine Corps Silver Dollar and a beaded Vietnam Veteran wristband. Alex is a great supporter of the film and a good friend to Marines everywhere.

One of the best things about journeying around America introducing the film to audiences is the folks we meet, and we met some great people in Fresno and Clovis including martial arts expert Captain Ed Planas of the Joint Service Honors Command, and Mr. Miguel Saldana, a Marine veteran of the Iraq War and president of the Student Veterans Organization at Fresno State University and his compadre, Army Iraq War veteran Rolando Corral. Also attending were a contingent of about thirty active-duty Marines from Lemoore NAS who gave BRAVO! a standing ovation.

A big thanks to the Joint Service Honors Command, the Clovis Veterans Memorial District and their event specialist, Mr. Joel Diaz. Thanks too, to Fresno area Detachment #14 of the Marine Corps League, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3225, American Legion Post 509, American Sheet Metal, the Fresno VA, Peak Broadcasting for the public service announcements, Kaweah Covenant Group and Mr. Leroy Combs of Ideas Unlimited Printing for the beautiful posters.

Khe Sanh brother Dave Harper was responsible for setting up these screenings and a big Marine OOORAH is in order for his yeoman’s efforts in bringing the screenings about, and for his generous hospitality. Dave’s vision and tenacious attention to detail led to these very successful screenings.

Next up, April 19 at 6:30 PM in the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center in Moscow, Idaho. Sponsored by the University of Idaho’s Operation Education. Thanks to Kim Barnes, Laura Pizzo, Ed McBride, Dan Button and Julie Titone for their support on this event.

In the mix for upcoming screenings, a May 18 screening in Sonora, California. May 18 is Armed Forces Day. Thanks to Khe Sanh brother and organizational dynamo Mike Preston for his efforts to bring this screening about.

This afternoon, BRAVO! COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON VALOR will screen in the auditorium at the regional facility for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Fresno, California, at 4:30 PM (doors will open at 4:00 PM). The VA is located at 2615 E. Clinton Ave (at the corners of Clinton Avenue and North Fresno Street) in Fresno. Thanks to Khe Sanh veteran Dave Harper for arranging this screening.

Tomorrow, March 21, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened twice at the Clovis Veterans Memorial facility, 808 4th Street in Clovis, CA, once at 2:00 PM and again at 6:00 PM. Doors will open respectively at 1:30 and 5:30 PM. These screenings are sponsored in part by the Joint Service Honors Command, the Fresno area Marine Corps League, American Legion Post 509, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3225, Kaweah Covenant Group and again, our Khe Sanh brother, Dave Harper.

On April 19, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened in Moscow, Idaho, at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center at 508 South Main in Moscow beginning at 6:30 PM, and followed by a panel discussion. This screening is sponsored by the University of Idaho’s Operation Education, which honors and assists permanently disabled veterans of war to gain a college degree. You can find out more about Operation Education at http://www.uidaho.edu/operationeducation. Thanks to Mr. Ed McBride and Mr. Dan Button of Operation Education and Laura Pizzo, Project Coordinator for the Department of English at the U of I, for their efforts in bringing BRAVO! to Moscow and the University of Idaho. Special thanks to award-winning memoirist and novelist Kim Barnes, Professor of English at the U of I, for her energy and commitment to BRAVO!. Further thanks to writer Julie Titone for her assistance with our visit to Moscow.

Any changes or additions to the information on these screenings will be sent out as soon as we know about them.

Last night at the University of Nevada-Reno, we screened BRAVO! in the Wells Fargo Auditorium to a crowd of over one-hundred with a wide variety of viewing ages from Korean War veterans down through current combat-theater veterans and college students at UNR. The response to the film was intense. After the screening, we had a panel discussion that included, among other things, filmmaking, the Vietnam War, Fallujah, Iraq, film distribution, Afghanistan, MIAs in Southeast Asia, the change in communication methods over the last forty-five years, and the Vietnam Veterans of America’s pledge that “Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another.” Thanks to Marine brother Terry Hubert whose exuberance and dedication to veterans fueled this event. Many thanks are in order also to the Nevada State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Reno Chapter 989 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Dr. Marta Elliot and the University Veterans Coalition, Susan Kinder of UNR, the campus veterans fraternity, NuPhi, Troy Stormoen of the Reno Vet Center and all the folks who attended the screening.

Betty and I feel very fortunate that we were able to both make new friends and visit with old friends, too, as part of the Reno screening of BRAVO!

One of the men in the film, Steve Wiese and his wife Deborah, gave us a great surprise by coming up from Lincoln, California, and it was good to visit with them. Longtime super BRAVO! supporter Dianne Jackson drove up from the Sacramento area to see the film again. Lieutenant Colonel Ken Pipes, company commander of Bravo Company and also part of the film, was represented by three of his former colleagues and Marines. BRAVO! supporters Lela and Johnny Herman from my (Ken’s) hometown of Casa Grande, Arizona invited some of their friends, Matt and Rhonda Matthews to come up from Carson City to see the film. Matt and Johnny were in the United States Army and served in Vietnam together. Also on board at the screening, all the way from Chico, California was Stephen “Tank” Kostenius and his wife Mandy, of Vietnam Veteran of America Chapter 582.

Matt Mathews and I had a conversation about the power of memory and our specific memories of war and how they affect us after forty-five years. We decided that even though a lot of those memories still haunt us with their horrors, we don’t think that recalling those violent moments is all bad. Memory can serve to remind us of what is bad, but also what is good about the human condition, even in the worst of circumstances.

Next stop for BRAVO!: Fresno, California for a screening at the Fresno VA on March 20, 2013. Doors open at 4:00 PM, screening at 4:30.

The following afternoon, March 21, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened twice at the Clovis, California Veterans Memorial Building at 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:30) and at 6:00 PM (doors open at 5:30).

Many thanks are in order to Khe Sanh veteran Dave Harper for all his hard work on putting these screenings together along with Ken Hendrix and the Joint Service Honors Command, Kaweah Covenant Group, the Fresno area detachment of the Marine Corps League, American Legion Post 509, VFW Post 3225, and American Sheet Metal Air Conditioning and Heating among a host of other folks.

On April 19, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened in Moscow, Idaho, at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center. This screening is sponsored by the University of Idaho’s Operation Education http://www.uidaho.edu/operationeducation . Screening will commence at 6:30 PM followed by a panel discussion about veterans and wars past, present and future.

More updates to come!

Tomorrow evening, March 12, BRAVO! COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON VALOR will be screened on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno in the Wells Fargo Auditorium in the Library and Knowledge Center. Sponsors for this screening are the Nevada State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Reno Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 989, the University Veterans Club, and the NuPhi Vets. There will be a reception beginning at 5:00 PM followed by the University Veterans Club panel introductions. The actual screening will begin at 6:00 PM followed by a panel discussion. Many thanks to our Marine brother, Terry Hubert of the Vietnam Veterans of America, for all his hard work in putting this screening together.

In addition to the screening in Reno, BRAVO! will also be screened on the following dates in the following locations:

On March 20, 2013, BRAVO! will screen in the auditorium at the regional facility for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Fresno, California, at 4:00 PM. The VA is located at 2615 E. Clinton Ave (at the corners of Clinton Avenue and North Fresno Street) in Fresno. Thanks to Khe Sanh veteran Dave Harper for arranging this screening.

On March 21, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened twice at the Clovis Veterans Memorial facility 808 4th Street in Clovis, CA, once at 2:00 PM and again at 6:00 PM. Doors will open respectively at 1:30 and 5:30 PM. These screenings are sponsored in part by the Joint Service Honors Command, the Fresno area Marine Corps League, American Legion Post 509, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3225 and again, our Khe Sanh brother, Dave Harper.

On April 19, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened in Moscow, Idaho, at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center at 508 South Main in Moscow beginning at 6:30 PM, and followed by a panel discussion. This screening is sponsored by the University of Idaho’s Operation Education, which honors and assists permanently disabled veterans of war to gain a college degree. You can find out more about Operation Education at http://www.uidaho.edu/operationeducation.

Thanks to Mr. Ed McBride and Mr. Dan Button of Operation Education and Laura Pizzo, Project Coordinator for the Department of English at the U of I, for their efforts in bringing BRAVO! to Moscow and the University of Idaho. Special thanks to award-winning memoirist and novelist Kim Barnes, Professor of English at the U of I, for her energy and commitment to BRAVO!. Further thanks to writer Julie Titone for her assistance with our visit to Moscow.

Any changes or additions to the information on these screenings will be sent out as soon as we know about them.

We have terrific news to announce about upcoming screenings of BRAVO! COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON VALOR in March and April, 2013. If you want to see BRAVO!, meet the filmmakers, meet other veterans and interested folks, then consider coming to one of these screenings. We’d be pleased to see you there, and you are welcome to invite others and help spread the word.

On March 12, BRAVO! will be screened on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno in the Wells Fargo Auditorium in the Library and Knowledge Center. Sponsors for this screening are the University Veterans Club, NuPhi Vets, and the Reno chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. There will be a reception beginning at 5:00 PM followed by the University Veterans Club panel introductions. The actual screening will begin at 6:00 PM followed by a panel discussion. Many thanks to our Marine brother, Terry Hubert of the Vietnam Veterans of America, for all his hard work in putting this screening together.

On March 20, 2013, BRAVO! will screen in the auditorium at the regional facility for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Fresno, California. Doors open at 4:00 PM. The VA is located at 2615 E. Clinton Ave (at the corners of Clinton Avenue and North Fresno Street) in Fresno. Thanks to Khe Sanh veteran Dave Harper for arranging this screening.

On March 21, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened twice at the Clovis Veterans Memorial facility 808 4th Street in Clovis, CA, once at 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:30) and again at 6:00 PM (doors open at 5:30). These screenings are sponsored in part by the Joint Service Honors Command, the Fresno area Marine Corps League, American Legion Post 509, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3225 and again, our Khe Sanh brother, Dave Harper.

On April 19, 2013, BRAVO! will be screened in Moscow, Idaho, at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center at 508 South Main in Moscow beginning at 6:30 PM, and followed by a panel discussion. This screening is sponsored by the University of Idaho’s Operation Education, which honors and assists permanently disabled veterans of war to gain a college degree. You can find out more about Operation Education at http://www.uidaho.edu/operationeducation. Thanks to Mr. Ed McBride and Mr. Dan Button of Operation Education and Laura Pizzo, Project Coordinator for the Department of English at the U of I, for their efforts in bringing BRAVO! to Moscow and the University of Idaho. Special thanks to award-winning memoirist and novelist Kim Barnes, Professor of English at the U of I, for her energy and commitment to BRAVO!. Further thanks to writer Julie Titone for her assistance with our visit to Moscow.

Any changes or additions to the information on these screenings will be sent out as soon as we know about them.

We are now facing major expenses involved with licensing and DVD production. We would appreciate your help in finding a sponsor (a business or organization) who will help cover these expenses in exchange for listing their name as a sponsor in all promotional materials and on the DVD.

As a lot of folks who have been following the progress of Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor know, we have been submitting to film festivals in hopes of creating some interest with distributors in order to gain worldwide distribution. To date, eight film festivals have not accepted the film, but we still have entries out for nine more and anticipate even more submissions upcoming.

For the good news, the Vietnam Veterans of America have watched and invited us to screen Bravo! at their annual leadership conference In Dallas, Texas, on August 9, 2012. As of this date, we do not have a lot of details on the conference or the showing, but as they come to us, we will report them.

While we are in Texas, we are contemplating screenings at other venues. If you live in Texas and are interested in seeing Bravo! in your town, we would love to talk to you about the possibility.

Furthermore, after our trip to Texas, we anticipate motoring east to the annual Khe Sanh Veterans Reunion in Washington, DC. We plan to go through Arkansas, on to Shiloh, Chickamauga, Look Out Mountain, Knoxville and into DC. If you live in one of those vicinities and would like us to screen Bravo! at the VFW, the American Legion Hall, a VVA meeting or the local Marine Corps League, give us a shout today. You can either email us or call (208) 340-8889.

Today, Betty Rodgers, one of the producers for Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor, muses on veterans and Memorial Day.

I was conceived not long after WWII ended. During that conflict, my maternal grandmother was a Gray Lady in the Red Cross, my mother was a Red Cross employee and USO volunteer, my biological father was a stretcher bearer in the European Arena, and my Aunty Kay was a WAC officer in New Guinea where she met her future husband, Harry Dennis, an officer who was serving there as well. Needless to say, I grew up in a family that honored and respected veterans for their service to our country and the preservation of freedom. Aunty Kay and Uncle Harry went on to become leaders in the American Legion and my aunt fought long and hard for women’s veteran’s rights and the betterment of medical care and conditions in veteran’s hospitals nationwide. Some of the most treasured books on Mother’s shelves are about WWII.

They had all believed that WWII would be the war to end all wars so their children and grandchildren would never have to experience battle.

Then came the Korean War, and after that, the war of my generation, the Vietnam War. That’s when Aunty Kay and Uncle Harry’s sons (my cousins) all enlisted in the military, along with many of my childhood friends. My first serious boyfriend was killed in Vietnam when he stepped on a landmine.

Fast forward to 1985 when I married Ken Rodgers, a Vietnam veteran. One of his best friends told me that Ken was a true war hero, having served at Khe Sanh. I gradually learned more and more about his experience and how it impacted his life, but never more than when I met the men he served with in Bravo Company and heard their shared stories in Washington, DC, in 1993. These were Marines with the same heart and beliefs as our WWII veterans, but the way it all played out in their lives was completely different. They were not respected and considered heroes by the general American public.

In July 2008, Ken and I once again attended the annual reunion of Khe Sanh veterans. Again, I listened and observed the bond that existed from the common experience of Bravo Company. I saw men from every walk of life, with every color of skin, with every possible philosophical bent, who would have never known each other except for the Vietnam War. I saw how their Company Commander, Ken Pipes, was still leading his men, and the mutual love and respect that comes only from knowing each other’s heart under the pressure of terrifying adversity.

At the next reunion in 2009, it became clear that the story of Bravo Company was slowly evaporating with each telling, and was just as relevant as the wars of previous generations. We also realized we were losing the men one by one, and with them, their stories. Ken and I agreed the history needed to be preserved in some way as soon as possible, and we sought and received the thumbs up from Ken Pipes.

The question became how to go about it. Write a book? No. Oral histories? Not enough. Documentary film? Perfect. Could we do it? Let’s give it our all. And so far the journey has been humbling, enlightening, encouraging and inspiring. I’ll talk more about it in Part II. In the meantime, we’re coming in the home stretch on creating the film.

And so today, Memorial Day 2011, I remember and thank all the people in my life, and Ken’s life, and yours, who have served our country and its fundamental purpose as stated in the Preamble to the Constitution, to “…establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”

Betty and Ken Rodgers have been hitched together for over twenty-six years. Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor is just the latest of a string of successful collaborations.