fracas

Saving Private Ryan… just not after the cheque has cleared the bank. It seems the philosphy of a few Hollywood celebs these days. According to The Hill:

“Hollywood’s top GIs have spurned Rep. Devin Nunes’s (R-Calif.) effort to help real soldiers who had their benefits cut off after losing family members in Iraq and Afghanistan. These soldiers returned home under the “sole-survivor” policy, which was a storyline in the 1998 Oscar-winning film.

In the movie, a troop of soldiers led by Tom Hanks’s character  risks their lives to save the titular Private Ryan (Matt Damon), whose three brothers have all been killed in World War II.

Nunes had a similar situation in his central California district. Former Army Spc. Jason Hubbard lost two brothers, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard and Army Cpl. Nathan Hubbard, in Iraq. As the last of the three brothers, Jason Hubbard opted to leave Iraq and the military under the sole-survivor policy, which allows anyone to exit military service with an honorable discharge when he or she loses one or more immediate family members.

Once Hubbard was back home, however, he ran up against a bureaucratic brick wall. The military cut him off, refusing to provide the customary support for a veteran transitioning to civilian life. The Army denied him any benefits under the GI bill, refused to provide the customary transitional healthcare and ordered him to repay a significant portion of his enlistment bonus. Congress has never passed legislation detailing the rights of sole survivors, so Hubbard was at the mercy of Defense Department bureaucrats.

Nunes’s Hubbard Act will provide continued benefits for any member of the armed forces who decides to leave the military after losing a family member. Specifically, it guarantees unemployment compensation, as well as payment for transitional healthcare and commissary and exchange benefits, as well as veterans’ benefits. These benefits would apply even if the soldier had not completed the years of service as agreed upon at enlistment.

In addition, these soldiers would not be forced to repay any portion of their enlistment bonus and may participate in the GI bill’s education benefits.

Since Nunes introduced the proposal in mid-April, Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) has signed on as an original co-sponsor and the bill has quickly attracted 295 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) introduced companion legislation and attached substantial portions of it to the Defense Authorization bill. Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), the ranking member, want to see the bill enacted by Memorial Day. Nunes is hearing that Democratic leaders may schedule a floor vote as early as next week.

So far, however, the stars of “Saving Private Ryan,” including Hanks, Damon, director Steven Spielberg and Robert Rodat, the writer, have brushed aside attempts to enlist their support.

An e-mail reply from Hanks’s agent, Meghan Hurlbut, to a Nunes staffer said the mega-star had “politely declined” the request for a signature on a letter of support.

“He sends his regrets and wishes you all the best, but simply cannot become involved in something of this matter at the present time,” Hurlbut wrote. “His schedule and workload just doesn’t permit it, and he will not commit himself to anything that he is not prepared to be fully involved with. Thanks so much for understanding.”

Spielberg had a similar response, conveyed to Nunes’s office through Robert Rozen, a lobbyist for the Directors Guild of America.

“We finally heard back and Spielberg declined to associate himself with this,” Rozen wrote in an e-mail. “I think it was a case of not wanting to focus on this as much as anything; he evidently just finished filming his latest ‘Indiana Jones’ movie and is in the middle of another production and probably just did not have the time to focus; sorry, it sounds like a good project.”

Damon’s agent, Jennifer Allen, said Damon was in Europe shooting a movie but would get back to Nunes’s aides. He never did, they said, while Rodat’s office did not respond at all.

Nunes is deeply disappointed that the celebrities who made the film and benefited from it financially are too busy to sign a letter to help real-world soldiers who have lost siblings in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“Hollywood made millions on this film, and we thought they’d want to give back,” Nunes said. “We have a real-life Private Ryan who could use their help … it has been rather frustrating on our end that they’re not interested.”

Nunes spokesman Andrew House went further and took a swipe at the lucrative entertainment industry’s values.

“We are realists and, in any event, Hollywood is about entertainment; more than $4 billion worth of entertainment last summer.” House wrote in an e-mail. “They must be busy. That’s more money in one summer than what, [the gross domestic product of] half of the members of the United Nations?”

Hollywood’s top lobbyist, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) President Dan Glickman, may still ride in to save the day. Nunes said Glickman pledged to reach out to the Hollywood community for support after the two met Tuesday to discuss it.

An MPAA spokeswoman confirmed that Glickman had agreed to help enlist Hollywood’s help.

“We just found out about the bill several hours ago and it sounds like a worthy cause,” said the spokeswoman, Angela Martinez. “Dan has certainly said he will try to be helpful as much as possible to reach out to folks with [whom] we have contacts.”

Nunes said he didn’t know whether Spielberg, Hanks and Damon, all well-known donors to Democratic candidates and causes, were reluctant to respond to a Republican lawmaker or to a cause dealing directly with the Iraq war, considering that films on the topic have been box-office disappointments.”

First, I’d like to extend my deepest sympathies to Former Army Spc. Jason Hubbard, followed by a thank you for his service and that of his two brothers. While that can never be enough, perhaps sharing his story here and encouraging others to think about how they feel about it… and then perhaps doing the same at their own blogs or in their own personal lives, will somehow help him know that others care. Even Canadians.

There’s still a bit more to read over at The Hill, (and I know I’ve quoted more than what is probably the norm, but I’ve not done it with malice, rather because I think it’s important to inspire others to discuss and share this with as many other people as they can) but my question to you is this:

Should the stars of the movie Saving Private Ryan support the cause that while portraying it in the movie, made them handsome amounts of money?

And if you need to see more, check out this story  and even this story.

Now post your opinions… and don’t be shy! If you, like me, think that at the very least, the stars of that movie should support the Bill, share the story any way you can.