Documentary Film on Women Veterans

Alexis wants to get off painkillers. Mariette jumps at loud noises. BriGette won't leave her home. Lashonna does not have one. Sue and Alicia served together and survived an
IED explosion. A new documentary, “SERVICE: When Women Come Marching Home,” follows these women over a two-year period as they struggle to make the transition from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan to civilian life.

College of San Mateo’s Veteran Resource Opportunity Center will hold a free film screening and a question-and-answer session with the filmmaker, Marcia Rock, at 12:10 pm, May 16 at its college theater.

Women make up 14 percent of today's military. That number is expected to double in 10 years. SERVICE portrays the courage of these women, the horrific traumas they face, the inadequate care they often receive on return, and the accomplishments – large and small – they work mightily to achieve. Through compelling portraits, the film shows them wrestling with prosthetics, homelessness, post-traumatic stress and its insidious catalyst, military sexual trauma.

The film is also about the resourcefulness of these women, and how they created a supportive network through social media.

The nation has a new military force. The veterans shown in the film represent the first wave of mothers, daughters and sisters returning home. The power of the documentary
is in the intimacy it establishes with them, speaking with them in their kitchens and bathrooms, back yards, classrooms, therapy sessions and super markets. The film aims to wake up a sleeping civilian population.

• Wednesday, May 16
• 12:10 – 2 pm
• CSM Theatre
• Free Admission
• Refreshments