FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, January 18, 2005
CONTACT: Will Coghlan, (212)-982-9699,

From Baghdad to Sundance: Iraq War Veterans Take Part in Film Festival

Four Iraq War Vets Featured in New Documentary Attend Festival

NEW YORK – Four young Iraq War Veterans will attend the Sundance Film Festival beginning Friday, January 20, to highlight the issues facing this next generation of American Veterans. The Veterans are all featured in the new documentary, “The Ground Truth,” and also members of IAVA: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the nation’s first and largest organization for Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Attending Sundance will be:

Paul Rieckhoff, 30, from New York, NY: Paul is the founder and executive director of IAVA. Currently a member of the New York National Guard, Rieckhoff served as an infantry officer leading a platoon of Soldiers for a year in Baghdad. His unit spent approximately 10 months conducting combat operations in Iraq. All thirty-eight of the men in Rieckhoff's platoon returned home alive. He is now a nationally recognized authority on the war in Iraq and issues affecting Troops, military families and Veterans.

Herold Noel, 25, from Brooklyn, NY: After a year driving trucks to the front lines, delivering fuel as U.S. troops invaded Iraq, Herold returned stateside unemployed, homeless, and unable to provide for his wife and four children. Thanks to the combined efforts of IAVA and the New York-based homelessness prevention organization Common Ground, Herold is now living comfortably with his family in the Bronx and is receiving the treatment, counseling, and the retraining he needs. After he gets himself settled, Herold intends to devote himself to advocacy for homeless veterans. He wants other returning vets to be able to say, “I did a lot for my country, and my country did a lot for me.”

Robert Acosta, 21, from Santa Ana, CA: On July 13, 2003, Robert was gravely injured when a grenade was thrown into his Humvee. As he tried to throw the grenade out, it exploded. His left leg was shattered, and he lost his right hand. Robert joined the army straight out of high school. He says that joining the army was the best thing he could do have done – “if it weren’t for the army, I’d probably be locked up right now.”

Sean Huze, 31, from Los Angeles, CA: On September 12^th, 2001, Sean, an actor living in LA, walked into the Marine Corps recruiter’s office at Sunset and La Brea and started the process of enlisting into the USMC. By February 2003, he and his battalion were headed into Iraq. Their first major conflict occurred on March 23, 2003 just south of Nasirya in a twelve hour fire-fight known as “The Battle of the Coil.” Since returning from Iraq, Huze has written a critically acclaimed play, “The Sand Storm,” about lifefor the Troops there.

To arrange an interview with any of these Veterans, or to learn more about their trip to Sundance, please contact Will Coghlan at 212-982-9699 or .

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