Vets. Zombies. Seriously

Today it’s vets and zombies.

I’m serious. Vets. Zombies. Vets and Zombies.

It’s a new world, folks. A new world.

For a conventional take, try Army Times´ “Trailer for Veteran-Made ‘Range 15’ to Debut During Sundance.” For a more in-your-face (or should I say, in-your brain?) take, try Broadly.’s “The Disabled Iraq Veteran Starring in a Military Zombie Film.”

Either way, get ready. They’re coming.

I know, I know: you thought this was all taken care of by Brad Pitt in World War Z, or if not, at least by Ms. Bennet and Mr. Darcy in everyone’s classic favorite, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Nay, nay, ‘twas not the end.

Recently I talked about the veteran-run clothing marketer, Article 15, and especially its quite irreverent take on T-shirts and other items to reflect military humor. Capitalism and good military competition being what they are, though, the good folks at Article 15 are anything but alone. For example, another group, Ranger Up, provides similar apparel meant to be worn and, oh, yes, noticed and remembered.

Well, like any good service members, the vets of both companies carry competition only so far, and their joint identities as ex-military have brought them together to make a film that too is meant to be, you got it, noticed and remembered.

It’s called “Range 15,” and it’s being billed as a “zombie-comedy-action-thriller.”

I think that about covers it.

Maybe there’s a love story in there as well, who knows. I’m afraid to ask.

I’ve previously mentioned Matt Best of Article 15. He’s one of the producers. But so is Ranger Up’s founder, Nick Palmisciano, a former United States Army infantry officer. And Captain Kirk’s in it: really, William Shatner. And Marcus Luttrell.  And the trailer just appeared at the Sundance Film Festival.

And 2016 is just getting started.

And you’ve got to check out the Broadly. article that features the female lead, combat vet and former US Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD, i.e., bomb squad) technician, Mary Dague. Ms. Dague lost both her forearms in an explosion in Iraq. She’s quite proud of her “nubs,” as she calls them. I suspect the zombies find out in the film why she likes also to think of herself as a T-rex.

When I tell people that I work with combat vets, they often respond with a cross with between awe and pity, as if somehow both I and the vets I serve are lucky to leave our sessions with our souls intact, given what we go through together. That is, on some days, indeed the case.

Yet on other days, I can say that I have never laughed in a professional office as hard as I have laughed with many of these men and women. Of course the best comedy usually has knifing anger weaved into it. Aristotle himself told us, after all, that comedy is about foibles, and foibles always mean that someone somewhere is angry, ashamed, or both.

Yet what is the old cliché? “Either laugh or cry?” To laugh is to remember all the laughs that have gone on before, to remember those we have laughed with, whether or not we will laugh with them again. To remember them at some of their best moments: a stifled giggle when the officer passes by who ain’t gonna be too pleased when he sees what awaits him in his quarters, a body-shaking guffaw as she can’t honestly believe that you really fell for that and actually put that in your mouth!

All right, true: the psychoanalyst in me could have a heyday with the idea of zombies and veterans, together. But, you know, come to think of it: why?

They say that Freud said that “sometimes a cigar is a cigar.” Whether he did or not, sometimes a good laugh should just be that: a good laugh.

Just don’t laugh your head off.

If you do, have the mustard and Wonder bread handy. Some patrons take their burgers raw. And they don’t like waiting.

Until tomorrow, be well,

Doc