Retired Marine Colonel Eric Hastings used to dream about fly-fishing when he was in Vietnam. In 1969, he returned home to Montana and went quickly to the water. "I came back from combat and found I needed relief. And the more I was out there fly-fishing, the more I knew I needed more of it. You know, this ... this river healed me," he says.
Fly-fishing is a way to engage in a fight, but then let the creature go unharmed. Now Hastings is helping a a new generation of soldiers recover. Their story is the basis for the film Not Yet Begun To Fight.
The film will play at the Full Frame Theater in Durham on Thursday February 20. Producer/Director Sabrina Lee will be at the event.
Here's an excerpt from a review of the film:
Movies often tell us about the camaraderie of soldiers. Here, despite their wounds, some of these soldiers long to return to service. One wounded warrior in eye-patch believes he is perfectly designed for deployment. He longs to return to Afghanistan. Another soldier feels himself responsible for his unit members' deaths. Hastings explains that a person will not ever get past those feelings, and must learn to live despite them. And go fly-fishing.
