IF YOU CAN EVER GET BACK
Film poster for "If You Can Ever Get Back" with images of US army combat medics.
IF YOU CAN EVER GET BACK
Film poster for "If You Can Ever Get Back" with images of US army combat medics.
US army combat medics who served in Iraq’s “triangle of death" struggle to find their place in the civilian world and to lay to rest their wartime ghosts

IF YOU CAN EVER GET BACK

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WATCH ON DOCUSEEK

AUDIENCE FAVORITE AWARD - Portland Film Festival

Mental Health • Veterans • Combat Veterans • Army Medics • Military • Army • PTSD • Iraq War

Date of Completion: 2020 | Run Time: 100 minutes​​ | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Directors: Taylor Lee Nagel, Emma Findlen LeBlanc & Philip Sands | Producers: Taylor Lee Nagel, Emma Findlen LeBlanc & Philip Sands

IF YOU CAN EVER GET BACK tells the story of three US army combat medics who served in Iraq’s “triangle of death.” Ten years later, they struggle to find their place in the civilian world and to lay to rest their wartime ghosts. Combat medics suffer especially high rates of PTSD, depression, and suicide, and the film explores their unique experiences in war and after war. By interweaving the everyday and the extreme, the present and the past, the film offers an open-ended reflection on the moral, emotional, and existential consequences of war for those soldiers who must aid wounded enemy combatants as well as Americans, and who forever carry a special burden of each life they were unable to save. The film features Sergeant Kristina Hilstad (Pennington), First Sergeant Robert Brady, and Staff Sergeant Philip Belmont and their families.

Matthew Ryba, USMC Veteran OIF/OEF | Director of Community Outreach and Education New York-Presbyterian Military Family Wellness Center
​​"If You Can Ever Get Back is a film that explains the struggles veterans face with their mental, physical, and emotional health on the long road transitioning out of service in an expertly nuanced way. It pulls the viewer into understanding what it means to be a veteran in a way that cannot be described through words. A must-see film for any audience who works with the veteran community for a window into understanding military cultural competency in a way that can only be taught through emotional experience."