Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to mount. According to recent figures, 4,180 American soldiers have died since the war was launched in 2003. There have been some 610 casualties in Afghanistan. And Iraqi deaths due to the invasion are said to be well over 1 million. A lot of young men and women are left dealing with the sudden loss of their spouses, their friends, and children.
Taryn Davis was 21 when she lost her husband Michael to a roadside bomb in Baghdad on May 21, 2007. Working through her grief, spending 14 hours a day on the internet, she wasn’t finding what she needed. So she built a community of widow-to-widow peer support: what began as a group on MySpace has become an ongoing support and documentary project that tells the stories of women and the impact of war. And they’ve started holding outings together, like tubing in Texas, and surfing in LA. Davis has also been featured in ‘In Their Boots,’ the groundbreaking documentary series that tells the stories of men and women who are fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
You can learn more about the American Widow Project here. The dvd will be distributed free to war widows. Taryn Davis and her co-director on the film, Don Swaynos, are screening the American Widow Project at the Austin Film Festival in Texas, October 19th.
Source: http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com/2008/10/10/got-docs-the-american-widow-project/