from the moment a soldier heads off into
combat there are time serving our
country can be rewarding but also very
traumatic and after the war can often be
difficult for soldiers to transition
back at home and now a green beret
turned playwright has found a way to
help his fellow soldiers heal
joining us now Lieutenant Colonel Scott
Mann creator and playwright of last out
elegy of a green beret and actor Brian
Bachman thank you both for being here
this morning so first of all I mean this
is a unique experience everyone on stage
in this play combat veterans turned
actors telling this story how did this
idea come about well the the idea for it
came about I do a lot of public speaking
and I our nonprofit the hero's journey
we help warriors and family members tell
their stories as they come home from war
that's what our focus has always been
and transition for me was really really
tough after I came out of Special Forces
and so I had a couple of coaches who
said you know you should start writing
down those experiences into the form of
a play just as kind of therapy and I did
I performed a little one-person show
that was like five minutes long at my
local theater down in Sarasota and
everybody looked and said that's a play
and so two years later I called my dear
friend Brian Bachman who's an actor here
in Orlando and a combat veteran and I
said have I got a deal for you yeah and
how was that when you got that phone
call from him and kind of it's it's kind
of a different type of therapy if you
think about it I first said I want to
read it first that's reasonable okay and
then I learned that I was gonna play so
many characters in the show I played
nine characters in the show and we're
all on stage the entire show and but
after reading it like I was like yes yes
I want to be in this show cuz it is
telling a story that's never been told
before and we get lots of stories about
these guys that go in first or they go
in and they do some really great stuff
or they go just one time but we don't
get a lot of stories of what happens
when the guy goes and just does his job
and then he comes home mm-hmm and then
he goes again and then he goes again and
then he goes again and then he goes
again and we find ourselves 18 years in
a war later where's that guy story and
what's the story of that guy's poor
family right and what do they go through
and that's kind of what we're talking
about in a way that's never been talked
about before do you find that this play
has helped
you and also help the people who've been
able to see it it absolutely has I mean
it was very difficult for me at first to
put it into words and then to get on the
stage you know of the three of us on the
stage you know I'm not a professional
actor I'm a storyteller and a speaker
Brian and aim and Lenny are so it was it
was hard for me to get up there and
basically you do the opposite of what
you've been trained to do as a soldier
which is you take the body armor off and
I play Danny Patton the main character
who basically you're in his mind as he
goes through the the chaos of combat and
so taking that armor off and really just
letting it go on stage in firefights
that post-traumatic stress all of that
it was really hard at first but the the
cathartic nature of it has been amazing
and we've had so many veterans in the
audience talk about the healing aspect
of it as well and each city that you
visit the hero's journey is offering
resources absolutely veterans tell us
about that well what we do is we travel
around because it's a non-profit
experience we travel with counselors and
right here in the Orlando area I don't
know if you all know this but there are
some protocols going on right now with
pts that are amazing and and so we
travel with counselors with us because a
lot of the issues that Brian and I bring
up from the play they involve pts and so
you see it unfold on stage and we don't
want to just admire the problem right we
want to afterwards so we do a talk back
with the audience and then we have
counselors on hand to meet with folks
who self-identifies as having issues
with that and the results have been
astounding we're on a twenty city tour
and just in Albuquerque we had seven
veterans self-identify after the show
who are now getting effective treatment
and some of them have already been
cleared about some of those treatment
options because there's something out
there now called a reconsolidation of
treatment of traumatic memories Marty
Eman and Brian I've both done it and
basically what it does is is you know
Trump trauma from combat is stored in a
part of the brain that just needs to be
reconsolidated back into the the rest of
the brain as a normal memory and this
protocol that was developed by dr. frank
bork after 9/11 working on world traits
and her victims has been evolved and
it's really strong and it's clearing
combat veterans in less than five visits
and so it's amazing they treat it like
an injury not an illness
so we're teamed up with them and they
travel with us and so we treat this not
just as a performance but as a project
so where can we watch this watch the
play when where how much we are going to
be at the venue downtown Saturday at 7
p.m. and then Sunday at 2 p.m. tickets
on last out play.com tickets are $30 all
proceeds go to the nonprofit to help
warriors tell their story when they come
home so it's just a great way and for
civilians come see it you'll understand
the war in a way that you never
understood before and this is a great
thing to get behind the hero's journey
you're looking for sponsors so that you
can help heal more veterans and keep
this show going around 20 cities around
the country and it's all by donors
westgate Resorts out of Orlando has
already been phenomenal but anyone that
would like to help us at any level you
know last out play calm they can do that
and we're immensely grateful for it come
see the show