Comfort Farms (2020) - full transcript

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captain Kyle comfort.

Captain Kyle a. Comfort.

Ss selfish meld

captain Kyle a. Comfort.

J 1 could have died
in your arms?



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Many of us here understand

that in order for us to live,

the sacrifice of another life
must be given.

Okay, great. Come on, let's go.

Bring him on out. Come on, bring him
out, bring him out, bring him out.

Bring him out here. A little further.
Bring him out. Bring him out.

By witnessing these things,

we gain a deeper respect
for ourselves and others.

It is a celebration of those who
live and those we have lost.

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j when our hearts
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j when our eyes
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Sergeant Ricky england.
-Ready.

I sergeant Charles may.
-Here.

Senior airman Adam stern.
-Here.

Specialist Trenton free.
-Here.

Trying to think
where to start that one.

I'll try not to smile.

Like, I mean, it's...
I don't know, it's...

To me, it doesn't
seem like it's a lot, you know?

I guess, like, you get blown up, but after
the first time, you don't really recall

the other times
you get blown up.

I've never been
in a car accident.

But I can imagine that that's what
it would feel like fo be t-boned.

Um, it's basically a giant
flash of dust

and a really loud
bang and then...

I had almost an entirely
positive experience with war.

Enough firefights
to have a good story.

And we didn't lose anyone
from my platoon or my company.

During that, uh,
during that deployment,

we lost an interpreter that was
well-loved by all of us

when a Humvee flipped.

Uh, and we had one, one of our
brothers that got wounded in action.

But we had no, uh,
nobody killed in action,

and just had a lot of good action and,
and a good time while we were there.

Uh, we got ambushed on a bridge

and, uh,

we were taking heavy fire,

and they really had us
pinned down on this bridge.

And I was lead gun truck.

Um, and so,
I turned my turret, uh,

fowards the right.

And I saw a bunch of,

you know, feet running near the war truck,
and I just start laying 50 Cal into them.

But, uh, instead of a bunch of dang on water
buffalos, I was just shooting with 50 Cal.

Other times you get blown up.

Do you really get blown up?

I've been in two direct
explosions, like on my vehicle.

And then I've also had multiple near
misses where you just keep driving.

It's not even...
It doesn't even matter.

Il don't know,
that's pretty much Iraq.

Yeah?

We basically go there and get
shot at and then blown up.

And out of nowhere,
this kaabo warrior man,

he just kind of like Tokyo drift,
like right over top of us,

and just started raining down
hell on these guys

and hellfire missiles and just,

you know, beautiful firefight,

great American fire power,
all that kind of stuff.

It's so funny
because about a year ago,

I'm sitting here at the farm
and this guy calls me up.

One of my buddy,
Joe, Joe, Joe dirt.

I'nat's what we call him.
He calls me up.

He said, "Jon, remember the story
you told me about that red door?"

And I was like, "yeah." He goes,

“ll want you
to talk to somebody."

And so me
and this guy started talking

and we're telling the same
stories and he's like...

He's like, "yeah, dude. ”

He goes, "I was the kaabo warrior.
I was the guy in the helicopter. ”

You know, it's like one of the most
epic firefights that we've been into.

And-=-

just to kind of corroborate that

and meet the dude that was actually
flying over top of me years later,

now we're friends today.

So what I've, what I've
found in doing this is,

uh, the more
the animal trusts you,

the more easily approachable
it becomes

when you're
harvesting the animal.

And it's, I've been on the fence
about it a little bit because jt's...

It sort of sounds sadistic that, and I
tell some of my friends this, you know,

like the best way to kill something
is to get it to trust you.

And in saying that, you know, it
does, it sounds, I don't know,

it sounds a little twisted.

But in reality

for safety measures and for, uh,

what we like to call
humane slaughter,

which some people disagree and they
say, "no slaughter is humane. ”

But when you, when you
befriend that animal

and you care for that animal,
I don't do it.

I genuinely care
for the animal, um,

and get to know it on a...
On a personal level,

like it was my pet or my friend.

And, um,

it makes
for the safest possible harvest.

The emotional
connection is, is important.

Um, it's hard.
It makes it harder.

It makes it a lot more difficult
fo take the life of that animal.

But when you accept the fact

that it's a... it's a necessity

in the lifestyle
that you choose to lead.

And, um,

you do that, you know,

like I said and keep saying before in
a spiritual, respectful manner, um,

being connected to that animal
eases that process for the animal,

which for me is more important
than my feelings.

If I'm going
to take that animal's life,

if I'm going to cross it over
and into the spirit world,

then, um,
I want it to be comfortable.

I want it to be secure

and not anxious or,
you know, fearful.

Uh, and it's not an easy thing.

It's... it's never an easy thing.

So that's my sacrifice,

is my emotion and my feelings,

um, and the hurt that I feel,
and the pain that it causes.

And...

It's hard to, you know,

fake them down and then turn around and
say well, I took the old boys down.

He might've been an enemy, but
you didn't like fo do that.

That was... that was
something awful.

But it was either you or him, so what
are you... what are you going to do?

You are... you going
to take him down.

The 32nd infantry division
nicknamed the red arrow division,

its shoulder patch,
a red arrow piercing a line.

The 32nd has more combat hours
in world war 2

than any other
American division.

654 days of fighting

with more than 28.000 enemy
known to have been killed.

And we were looking at MacArthur

when yamashita get... get...
Furned his sword...

Turned his sword over fo him.

It had to change,

it had to change.

But what we did back
when we were in combat,

uh, we made up our own minds
who we were going to shoot

or who we're not to shoot
or what we were going to do.

But now, good gracious life, I
got to go watch them fools,

they shoot at anything.

No, these boys now think they're
really barring down on

but they're not.

Back in the day we didn't...

If I was in trouble,
we didn't know no better.

We didn't know who was supposed
to get nothing, you know.

And we didn't.

There was no hospitals for us

and, um,

only ones that was,

he's got a leg blown off
or something.

They might think he
or somewhere like that, see?

To the walls!

Pretty good, that was.

You take a bunch of old boys,
they'll think up something.

Well, what they would do
is, see, they was down there,

they got in this cave-like thing,
you know, and then throw that...

Throw that, uh,
hand grenade over there.

And what it would do, they wouldn't
do a thing, they would just pitch it.

Pitch it on.

And you wasn't
getting that to 'em

but what we did that we tied
a string onto it

as far as it would go down,
oh, and when it did,

he didn't have time
to get that thing.

So it blowed him up, yeah.

And let me tell you,
another little thing happened

right at that same mountain,

that was kind of, uh,

something we had a...

What was that, a p... a p59?

What was
that double-bodied plane?

P50 something now,
whatever it was, anyway.

He come in and this pilot,
these two pilots wanted to see

what it looked like
in that valley.

Well, boy, when they pulled into
that dog gone valley there,

they... they killed both
or I don't know,

but one of the pilots anyway,
and they scattered the boys...

Scattered them all up
and down that valley in there.

And that was something that kind
of bares on your mind a bit too.

There's a lot of it I can't
talk about.

I just can't do it.

And by the way,

we draw... we draw 21 dollars
a month when I went in.

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When I got back, things started
to get a little weird.

Going from war, where you are
living and, you know,

living with and sleeping next
to the same people, uh,

and everybody is somebody
that you trust with your life

whether you like him or not.

Um, coming back and just,

sort of being released
into the wild is a real jam.

It's a difficult transition
to make

under even
the best circumstances.

And while we lost
nobody to combat wounds

in Iraq during that year,

in the 15 years since then

we've lost over 10% of the men
in my platoon,

most of whom have died
at their own hands

whether intentionally
or accidentally.

Uh, I had a catering business
at the time that was pretty successful

and, economy did
what it did, so.

1, uh, basically,
in may of 2016 I had, uh...

Yeah, I reached the boiling
point where, you know,

the kettle
was about to blow its lid,

so yean, I attempted to, um,

you know, take my life, um,

through an act of slamming
into my house.

So, I ran myself
into the house, uh,

did a pretty good, uh,
wound to myself in doing that.

So when, uh,

when this took place
and that injury that day,

kind of set in motion where
the wife then took the reins

and removed me from the
situation, that being my family,

and, un, that was an eye opener.

'Cause really, nobody knew
what was going to happen next.

And so she did the right thing.

She did something that was
extraordinarily brave

and it was like, if this is
the way it's going to be,

then you go do your thing
and we'll go do ours.

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misconceptions about veterans

can sort of be summed up

kind of simply that, um,

we have this idea
of what a veteran is

and that is the misconception.

You know, I have that image
in my head too.

You know, um,

sort of the homeless,
Vietnam veteran

that just sort of a cultural
image that exists.

Um, the biggest misconception
boils down to,

that there is something that sums
up veterans, and there's not.

Every veteran is an individual.

That big cultural misconception

tends to split veterans into object
of pity or object of worship,

and neither is good.

Uh, neither is accurate,
neither is worthwhile,

um, just because someone's a veteran
doesn't mean they're a good person.

Doesn't mean they're a hero,
doesn't mean anything.

Just means they served
and, um, you know,

s0, some veterans are great
people and others are really not,

and just like anybody else,

some veterans have problems that
are military related, some do not.

Everybody on earth has problems that are not
related to what they do or did for a job,

because life is hard, and that's
just how that one goes.

Certain experiences in the army
have brought that out more clearly

because you've been thrown in
with Tom, and dick, and Harry

and need to get along with them.

It's not necessary to be
in the army.

It's not necessary
fo be in the war.

These kind of troubles have
always gone on

in all time,
through all the centuries.

I don't think that the faulty
media narrative

of the, uh, broken veteran

is something that was done
with any sort of grand plan.

I think that it's just something
that catches people's eyes.

Um, and there's
an old statistic,

it's more now but there were,
a few years ago, when I checked,

over 10.000 registered
non-profits for veterans.

Um, 10.000.

and so, this narrative comes
not just from media

but from veterans
themselves as well

who, with the best intentions,
are trying to raise money,

uh, but sort of having
that unintended consequence

of perpetuating that idea
of veterans as, uh,

sort of the passive
recipients of help.

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Uh...

When he came back, he just
couldn't stand being here,

so he went back
because he just couldn't...

He, I mean,
he really enjoyed it.

I mean, he got blown up by a
roadside bomb in a Hummer,

but that didn't deter him
from wanting to go back.

What he experienced there,
he could never experience here.

So he just kept wanting this...

And that's not new, um, I mean,

I forget his first name, Morris,

he was a special forces
major in Vietnam.

He wrote books about that too.

Uh, about this thing
that is war.

And war is the purest

and most intense thing
that you'll ever experience.

Uh, even Churchill said
something like, you know,

uh, "there is no greater feeling
in the world

than to have somebody try
to kill you and fail. ”

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Once you've had that,

there's nothing else
that compares to it,

and not just from the excitement
and adrenaline, but from the unit.

So, one of the things we miss

is just that intensity of war, but
not just the experience of combat,

but also the relationships
that you have.

And that camaraderie
and that trust

that's built within that
environment is uncommon.

It's unbreakable, is what it is.

You have closer,
more intimate relationships

with people
that you're in combat with

Providers, what do they know
about veterans

is that they go to war and they
come back with PTSD.

So, veteran shows up with a problem,
and maybe it's PTSD, maybe it's not.

And they get that diagnosis, and maybe
they get sent to treatment for PTSD.

But you know what?
It doesn't work,

because that's not what's going
on with them.

Maybe it's not
about what happened at war.

Maybe it's what's happening now
that their problem is.

And then we come back to civilian
life and it's like, well,

we just want to work hard
and do it, you know.

We need something to grab onto and
hold on to and work hard for.

So, you know,
those misconceptions

that if a veteran
is having problems

it's because of their military
service, no. Usually not.

After Iraq,
it did affect me a lot

because I didn't have those people
around me that I entrusted with my life.

I'he camaraderie wasn't there.
The people weren't there.

It can sometimes fall
by the wayside

that there's all these other
things that can happen.

There's the syndrome
of just social alienation.

You know, we go from this highly
disciplined, cohesive unit

and then out into the civilian
world and just don't fit in,

and so there's
just that social isolation,

that sense that I don't belong.

That is just as toxic and just
as deadly as PTSD.

But it doesn't have a name
and it doesn't have a diagnosis.

My own thoughts
and my own ways of thinking,

it's like having a working dog
and putting it in a cage.

It's going to cause
that dog complete stress.

It's going to cause
the dog depression.

It's going to cause
the dog anxiety.

And the dog's not going to know
what to do with itself.

You know, it's that camaraderie.

It's that brotherhood of, uh,

you get around in it and it's immediately,
that's what you live for while you're in.

It's what got you through.

I had like an eight year stint of
just a ginormous lull after Iraq.

And it was because of just not
feeling fulfilled in my life, um,

with just that...

Go back
to that physical attribute.

You know, I want to work hard.

Um, depression happens after
combat experiences and trauma,

whether or not you have PTSD,

that can be something totally
different in itself.

Anxiety, just sort of general
anxiety, can also be that.

PTSD is a very specific thing,

but it's only one of many
potential negative outcomes.

We go from being, you know,
super, super high one moment

and then super, super low
the next moment.

I'nere's no in-between, you know.

You're either go, go, go, go, go

or dull, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, you know.

Whether it'd be
people shooting at you,

whether it'd be having a vehicle go
down from an ied or rpg shot at you,

it goes from 0 to 1000 miles
per hour really quickly

as you learn how to react
to those things,

and it does change people.

And so, um,

it's kind of tough
for a lot of us guys,

going from, you know,
a high tempo environment

where everything is
black and white

and then coming back here, living in
the grey, where everything is grey.

There's really
no black and white.

And I think that's
probably the toughest thing

for, uh, combat vets like myself
to adjust to,

is living in the grey.

You know, I'm part of a lot
of like women, wife groups

and the biggest thing
that they talk about

is seeing their husband go from,
you know, big tough burly men

to, um, feeling like they're not
needed anymore and they're not useful.

If you feel useless,

if you feel like everything you've
trained for is... you're not...

You can't do it anymore,

how do you just go
into civilian life and,

you know, move forward?

There's this great quote, and I
can't even remember who said it

but, uh, he was talking
about my division, particularly,

the 82nd airborne division.

He talks about,
"who do you recruit for this?"

So you tell people,

“we are going to put all the
equipment that you own on your body,

were going to strap you
into a parachute.

We're going to put you
on a plane.

Now, if you get to the target
without getting shot out of the air

and if your parachute opens and if you
don't break your legs or your back

when you land
or get shot out of the sky,

well then, all you need to do is
figure out where you are,

find your friends
and go pick a fight."

Now, the kind of person
who says,

"you know what? That's a great idea.
I want to do that.”

That's a person
that's a little different.

That's a person who maybe is not really
going to be all that well suited

or stay all that healthy
in a cubical farm.

Staff sergeant retired Jon Jackson.
-Here.

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Four out of the six days, um,
that was out,

we were in heavy combat
whether it was, you know,

improvised explosive devices,
ieds, um, you know,

direct contact ambushes,
things like that.

And, un,

it was pretty intense.

Made me a catcher one in tend

and so I engulfed myself

in all these types of things until
I'd just become numb to it.

And after my second, third,
fourth deployment,

il wasn't in a situation where
I cared as much about that,

because instead
of being the hunted,

you go to being a hunter.

You know, you feel real
comfortable in that environment,

more comfortable in that
environment than you do here.

And, so, um,

coming back home
and being in a situation here

was a lot different for me

because, um, I felt

I was extremely hyper-vigilant,
um, very cautious,

didn't trust a lot of people, because
that's just how I operated overseas.

Um...

You know, traumatic brain injury,
I didn't know what that was,

memory loss issues, um,

having some seizure type things
that I didn't know what's going on.

I felt like I was
losing my edge.

I felt like I was losing
my purpose to be a warrior.

And, um,

I wanted to take my life, man.

I literally just...

The most beautiful thing in, um,

about my deployments was
sunsets and sunrises.

And I was literally watching
my last sunset in my room

and gun in my lap,

just watched it and,

um, the sun was just going down

and I just came to grips with
the fact that I would be okay.

It was probably the most happiest
I'd felt in a very long time

and, uh,
I didn't want it to go away.

And, um,

then my damn son walked in the room
and asks if we could go to... to eat,

like, literally.

And I think the whole point of...

Like, it totally derailed me

because I was
in this frame of mind where I...

I was ready to end it all.

And I didn't play the tape
all the way through and, um,

I took him out to eat, you know,

we were sitting down,
we were talking and, um,

I was just looking at him, I was
looking at how beautiful he was,

and just realized like,

“man, this is my son.

This kid, like, deserves so much more
from me, to be there in his life."

Um...

And then it really hit me

because I
started to think about like,

what he would have saw,
you know,

had he been 15, 20 minutes
too late to walk into that room.

So, what we end up doing is going
into what they call the cocoon phase,

or where we ve been or even why.

As the caterpillar, we were
conditioned to be warriors,

but as civilians, we're not
conditioned to be civilians again.

So that's where we are
in the cocoon phase.

He would always say, he would always tell his
counselor, he will always say, you know,

“it's not that I want
to kill myself.

It's that 1 don't
want to be here. ”

And people would just
gloss over that

and I would think
to myself like, you know,

“that's not really something that
you should gloss over, you know?"

I felt like, if I'm going
through this,

how many other guys
are going through this?

And I didn't know
what I was going to do.

There have been so many vets
that have killed themselves.

More veterans have killed
themselves in 2017 alone

than we've lost
in the whole war.

That is crazy.

Who's talking about that?

And what are we
going to do about that?

But,

the type of person he is isn't the
type of person that'd just, you know,

let other people struggle too.

So, I think if it was just him
that's struggling

and nobody else had an issue, I
think he would just, you know,

be okay with that.

And I've put a lot of thought into like
how I want to live the rest of my life,

and I want to live the rest of my life
helping people, that's number one.

So I started getting involved
in non-profit work

and just helping around
as much as I could

and I realized there were
some gaps that were missing

in between all of this and, uh,

that's kind
of where this little...

Smoldering fire of desire

just started to get bigger
and bigger and bigger.

And I was just like, "you know what? I think
we've got to do something about this."

He started to make
more of an effort

in hanging out with his...
You know, hanging out with us.

And when we lived...

Before we moved
to the farm, um, you know,

before we moved to the farm, um,
he would come home,

go in the house, go in the room
and just kind of seclude himself.

We moved to the farm in about...

I think it was
right after our pigs

had their first set of babies.

And he came in the house,

like he's just super
excited 'cause, you know,

although he's like this,
you know, burly man,

you know,
big, strong farmer man,

he sees a baby pig and he just
like melts, you know what I mean?

Like he just loves the babies
and, you know,

he came in super excited like,
"the babies dropped!" You know.

And then after that he was outside
everyday just sitting there watching them.

And I noticed the more
that he stood outside

and the more that he stayed
outside watching the animals,

the more connected
to us that he became.

Because in war,

I could be playing table tennis
one day with my buddy

and then cleaning up his teeth
and brain matter the next day.

And I really have to dissociate
myself from that action

because
the next day it could be me.

You know, agriculture, um,

it's... you got to get down
in the trenches, you know, you...

The reward is that you see
your hard work, you know,

like you are working on your pt and
you're proficient at your weapon.

I kind of came up with this...

This idea back in 2014,

you know, um,

to use agriculture and farming

as a way to kind of help recondition
vets back to a new normal,

and at the same time, un,

give us a new mission to help
our communities in America.

I grew up around
in the 80's and 90's,

and my parents, you know,

I mean, all these processed
foods and stuff like that...

That I ate was just
unbelievable, you know?

So, um,

I don't want my kids eating
those type of things.

I know other people don't want their
children eating those type of things,

you know, um...

We're so fat and obese in this
country, I mean, nobody cares.

Diabetes is
out of control, you know,

heart disease is out of control.

So, it's like as a veteran,
looking for a new mission

to help fight and combat that.

How do we do that? Captain Kyle a.
Comfort died in combat.

He was a good friend of mine,

and so many other of my ranger
buddies have died in combat,

and what I wanted to do,

I realized that on bases,
their ranges, gyms,

defects named after soldiers
and things like that.

And I wanted to name farms.

I wanted to name farms
after my fallen comrades

that have sacrificed so much for so
many, so that people won't forget.

I got Afghanistan,
I've got Iraq,

I could take you there,
do what I need to do.

Starting a farm and starting a non-profit
is not my wheelhouse, alright?

Oh, yeah. You know,
it's beautiful, it's great,

it's peaceful and I'm like,

"hell no, this is absolute chaos
every single day."

I mean, and chaos is war, right?

You're fighting mother nature. You're
out here fighting bad decisions.

You're out here,
constantly losing a battle

that you need to get
a leg up on.

You have to work with a board
of directors, you know,

noses are busting
and you have water issues,

put that wasn't what you planned on doing
that day, you had other stuff planned.

Ll mean, I don't know how
many times, and I'm sure he doesn't

probably want me to say this, but I
don't know how many times he has said,

"Bree, I just want to give up,
you know.

I'm done. I'm done. ”
that's what he says, "I'm done. ”

But every day he gets up
and just says,

"but, maybe, you know,
I'll quit tomorrow, you know,

like, not today,
it's not going to be today."

J and we have one more to gor

j and the last one
was a mistake j

j I'd pour you anotner but I
think I heard the bottle break j

j on your bedroom floor j

j and we'll count
the hours awake

j 'cause I see
no sense in sleeping j

j only to wake up much too late

j oh and I leave
it's not that I'm scared ;

j I've got tol

js wait for the end j

comfort farms
is a treatment center.

Grow your food and eat it.
-Grow your food.

Yeah, the rest of the
world might want to try that.

Yeah, we're
going to show them how.

J but we're in love
with everyone that is j

j we're talking j

j tiny conversations j

j like they're harmless j

j but you know
that ain't what you sell &

Keeping our revenue
in our community,

supporting your neighbor,
your family, your friend.

J I'm talking to the devil but
I think I heard an angel sing?

J la, la, la, lad

j and this year has just begun?

Are you trying to do a formal table
or are you trying to do buffet style

or you are trying to do plating?

And here are
slightly larger 200 gallons.

This is basically a boiling...
Round bottomed boiling flask.

It is locally grown.

Getting that airborne
school about this time.

Airborne!

18 years ago, down at fort penny.
-Yes, sir.

J I'm looking for a hand
to guide me

j far away from the rest/

but, uh,

being a us army ranger,
there's nothing I can't do.

So I tackle this thing.

Because now I have a relationship
with my kids and my wife again

in a way that I never
thought I could.

Absent of the va
and absent of medication.

I knew you were going to have a party, I
didn't know we were going to have a party.

Hell yeah, hell yeah.

So let's get back to today.

Today we're at the, um...

And then we got
to do rabbits today.

So is everybody in agreement,
is that cool if we do...

I don't know how you
feel about that, Jon.

Start with cows on the grass.

Yeah, is that cool if we start with the
cow and then we take care of the goat?

I yeah.
-Then we...

We get it done today, we just
change the order up a little bit.

That way the animals are,
you know, we...

It'll give them a little more time
today to kind of settle down,

and I'll go smudge them
and ta-ta them a little bit

and, um,

you know, say some prayers and see if
I can calm them down a little bit.

Therese has been working
with the goat,

getting friendly with it
and trying to get it calm.

And I think once we get the calf
out of there then,

you know, we're definitely going to have
to give the goat a minute to cool out

'cause that's going
to be some commotion.

Hopefully, the calf will go down easy and
we won't cause too much of a ruckus.

Okay. -Where's
the calf getting butchered?

Well, one thing I was just talking
to someone down the hill,

about, you know,
the sacrifice of the animal

and being here
with all the veterans,

and, you know, the death
that they have to witness,

and her concern was that,
you know,

through these things that we do

that it might bring back some of
those bad feelings and thoughts

of what they had to go through
in combat.

And, um,

but what I hope through that is

the positive part of what we do
here and, um,

those deaths are good deaths.

I'hey're celebrated deaths.

It's a necessity for us
fo survive and to live

and to make those sacrifices
with the lives of those animals.

You know, is... is, um,
more of a celebration of life,

um, because without that sacrifice,
you know, we would cease to be alive.

Don't know.

I don't know
what it brings up for people.

I mean, there's something
about death and dying, right?

I guess.

Doesn't really remind me of it.

The-=-

the setting is different,
the chaos is different,

and the noises that people make

are different than animals.

Don't know.

I don't know how to answer that.

F don't know. I just like
watching the people react.

I had a good conversation
with someone,

just after that, who was
a little bit tearful about it,

hadn't seen an animal
slaughtered or butchered before,

un, so that was
a new experience to them.

To some people,
it's just no big deal, right?

It's just a critter, and it
dies, and that's just food.

And, you know, some people, that's
not a significant event for them,

and other people kind of have

some deep spiritual
significance, uh, with that.

And other people, you know,
never eat meat again.

And um, I'm not sure
there's any of those

that's more or less
appropriate than the others.

I'ney all just seem real and, uh,

it's neat to see
how people react to it.

You know, you get something genuine from
people when, when they're doing that.

A lot of people come in
thinking, you know,

it's about the food and it's
about the party and...

But it's... it's really,
that's not it at all.

We all love to eat good food,

it's an awesome by-product
of what we do,

but for the core

it's honoring
that sacrifice of that animal

so that we can move on
and hopefully, um,

improve all aspects of life,

not just, you know, like I said,
not just meat...

It's not just about growing
great meat, it's about...

To make everything
more acceptable to our body,

fo its natural state.

More important than the humane
slaughter is the actual, um,

it's the actual, you know,

the killing of the animal
that you actually know of.

And a lot of people disconnect
themselves from... from their food.

I'ney'd much rather...

And I'm going to use
this word and say it,

they cowardly turn their back
away and let atrocities happen,

uh, for the...
For their convenience

and the sake
of their convenience

at supermarkets
and things like that.

Um, here, what we ado,

we force people to get out
of their comfort zone

uh, to literally know the food
that they're eating

and if that bothers you,
don't eat meat,

eat more vegetables, you know.

And the purpose of this is for
people to make a conscious decision

of what they going to do
and who they support

and so, you know,
on a business sense,

we don't... we don't, uh,

price our animals cheaply because we
value their lives that they've lead.

Um, and that's
what sets us apart

from the major, you know, uh,
commercial industry

that just are
producing pounds, uh,

versus, um,
caring for the animals' life.

J 1used to think &

j there ain't no way j

j 1 can move ond

j after my body's gone/j

=; Now I know j

j I was wrong lj

j ihe only reason
that I'm singing this song j

j is because of youl

I he war is tough.
I don't do what you...

Which way you come in,

and then a lot
of these fellows will come in

and then we'll go to Iraq and
places like that and, my god,

you sleep scared all the time
and it's just...

It's just something
that you're afraid of.

And if he's not afraid, boy,
I'm afraid he's not living.

The psychiatrist listened
to the stories of the men

who tell them
as best as they can.

Ine names
and places are different,

the circumstances are different.

But through all the stories
runs one thread:

Death, and the fear of death.

You go, and you get one thing.

And living and doing

in anyway what you used to.

Keep on, keep it on.

When there ain't
nothing there to keep on.

And i1t... if is hard.

J 1used to think &

j there ain't no way j

j 1 can live ond

j after my body's gone/j

j now! Know

j I was wrong lj

j ihe only reason
that I'm singing this song j

j is because of youl

yes, I wanted to go back.
I wanted to stay there.

I wanted to keep on
defending all the other guys,

you know, John, striker,
kegs, Hopkins.

And how do you feel right now?

I feel alright.

In fact, I don't know
what they have done.

They never done nothing
with me, I had it.

Yes, I had it.

And...

But back then, you had a...
You had a different soldier.

The word is they used
to do it without.

The worse,
what really gets into you,

you get to think
about nobody cares.

Nobody don't care nothing.

They got what they wanted and that's
all they... all they really wanted.

When I come back and worked
with the mine down there,

I felt like my daddy
was the only thing I had.

Well, sir,

to be painfully honest
with you, um,

I'm very much in love
with my sweetheart.

She has been the one person that
gave me a sense of importance

and with her cooperation
with me,

we were able to surmount
so many obstacles.

What happened?

Well, when I
was in combat with, uh...

Can you speak louder? I
can't hear you. Yes.

Uh, during a time,

I got worried that my brother...

He was killed on a canal.

What was he, a marine?
-Yes.

Now, I know there's
a necessary test in here,

that you saw
a vision of your brother.

What, uh, tell me
something about that.

What... what happened?

Oh.

Well, 1 guess it was a dream.

Well, describe the dream. What...
What did you see in the dream?

Man, yeah.

I was trying to say that somebody
was being trained in your sub,

you know what I mean?

And then...

And they wasn't,

you just got to make sure
that that's not happening.

Don't promise me something
and then just back off

because that ain't
what it's all about.

I don't want it.

Well, I had a bad experience
out of the v8 down there

because I went, and they didn't
even know I was in the world.

I went to get an examination,

and shucks, my name
wasn't even on it.

Come back two weeks later, and
they still hadn't put it on it.

And, in other words,
this went on for two years,

and I just feel like

that even though they may have
not got my name on it,

but I sent a card, and yes,

but even though I didn't have my
name on it, I was still a veteran.

It don't make no difference whether
it has the name on it or not.

The weeks have stripped by fast.

The first string since the hospital
life has become a routine.

Sometimes, the man
learns something new.

The ranger always
did want to play guitar.

I'm so glad we got somebody
who's got nerve enough

to get out there and do
something with life.

Goddamn, I didn't see you there!

Oh, man.

Jon is alright, he's doing
something that I don't...

A lot of people may think he's just
doing something to help himself,

but I don't think so.

I think he...
I think he had to do it.

God knows
somebody needs to do it.

It's not me.

I don't... 1 don't mean to say

that everything they do
is wrong as a veteran,

but dog gone it,
a bunch of it is,

and there's no reason
why it should be.

Il don't want
none of their money,

but I do think they need
to look after them old boys.

After all what that man gave is
he gave is...

Well, I would say
three quarters of his life.

Them boys right there,
they feel the pain.

They feel the pain.

And now the days
begin to seem long,

as tne all healthy sound
of belly aching in the air.

"Spinach, spinach again. ”

And how about a good movie
for a change?

And how about putting some
ice cream in the ice cream soda?

[Up-tempo musicl

um,

and I think for him

not losing another person,

you know, is his goal.

It's just,
I don't want to lose another...

Another, you know, friend, I don't want
to lose another brother or sister.

Seems like he's continuing to
fight, he's taking the same spirit and...

Mm-hmm.

I'he sun is rising at
comfort farms in milledgeville

and the day is bringing something new
for veterans like Scott Kennedy.

I've been searching for the last
two or three years with friends,

family, other vets, trying to lock in
a place where I can get treatment.

He spent three years
in the marine corps

serving overseas in the south
pacific during the late 80's.

You know, I didn't know about the
networks that were out there.

I didn't know about the
available help outside the va.

I had no clue at that point.

No, the va
is not trying to kill you.

The va has a massive mission, and there are
appropriated limited funds to do that.

I'here are those who have
negative experiences,

and I'm not
justifying or excusing that.

They really do have
massive foul ups and, uh,

and problems that are
difficult to address,

but the va isn't trying
to kill anybody,

they're trying to help.

They're doing the best that they can in
a system that doesn't always work well.

So do I think that society or the va is
doing a good job at handling veterans?

Um, I think they want fo,

but I also think that society

wants to just check the box
to say that they did it.

And they want these quick,
we done it programs

to kind of give everybody a high
five to say that we did something,

to feel good about themselves.

Um, and so we spend a lot of money
on the wrong type of programs

that don't get down
to the root of the cause

for why vets are killing
themselves every day

or homeless or in jail
and things like that.

A lot of organizations are just
in that helper mode.

Uh, they're going to find a veteran in
need and they're going to save them.

And that is sometimes necessary
but it's never empowering.

Um, people need to be the agents
of their own change

and to have ownership
in their own recovery,

and if I'm just
sort of going to the va,

or going to a program and sitting there,
being the passive recipient of help,

um, just waiting around
for somebody to fix me,

then that's going
to take a long time.

J some people
think that Elvis died j

j 1don't believe itj

j Kurt cobain
committed suicide j

j 1don't believe itj

what comfort farms does
different is that veterans,

even veterans who need help are
not just the recipients of help.

Veterans are the agents
of change.

They are the agents of making
our communities better

when we're growing food
for the local community,

when we are working with volunteer
groups from the local community.

This is putting those veterans,

even those ones who are having
symptoms and having problems

in an empowered place

where they're not only helping
themselves, but they're helping others.

Yeah, that... I mean,
that just drives me crazy

for when people actually think
that, you know,

vets are being... are pitiful
and things like that.

And, you know, woe is me and...

And that's one of the reasons

why when I run this organization the
way I do, I get guys that come here,

it's like, "no, brother.

Take a knee,

pull the Thorn out of your eye,
drink some water,

get up and move out, okay?

We got work to do.
You got work to do.

Um, you've dealt with way
harder stuff than this. ”

And the people coming out
of military service

can work with the first teams, they can
work with people who they might not like,

they can adapt
to fluid situations,

we've got all these kind of, uh,

values and traits that are
super useful for society.

80% of people who experience
traumatic events

report that they are stronger
or better in some way for that,

even when they have symptoms
that affect them

and impair
their function in some point.

What we're able to do

is to take a veteran who's been
disconnected from his family,

we'll bring him to the farm, we'll
put him around the animals,

and what we're trying to achieve

is for him to start to develop the
skills that he once lost in combat.

Not necessarily to be
with his family,

but to develop the emotional
skills that he once lost.

The part of the therapy
that we're working on

that we will initiate is actually called
agro cognitive behavioral therapy,

so, uh, acbt,

and what that is,
it's really going to mimic

how veterans were conditioned,
uh, to be soldiers,

to be marines, to be airmen,
you know, to be core men,

through even, you know, we create the
agriculture culinary academy, um,

all these life lessons are going
to be put into the curriculum

where vets are not even
going to know it, uh,

to help condition them
back to their new normal, uh,

in much the same way that they
were conditioned to be warriors.

So it's like the skills that you
learn in war, you know,

are being applied right now to fight
in a big agricultural corporate model

that, uh,
wins all the time against us.

You know, you close the distance
with the enemy

and you win and you succeed.

You know,
the same thing is, you know,

when you bring in, you know,
we raise our hogs or, you know,

we connect with small farmers to get,
you know, their produce to market

and we're working with chefs to kind of
have them understand that, you know,

small farming is like
the solution for, um, you know,

our community needs
and American needs,

and how do we close the
distance on all those things.

And that's again that same way
with the military um, you know,

and you get up early,
you put in the time,

you do what you got to do,

and the end result is,
everybody comes home,

everybody is in better shape,
morale is up,

un, it's a conesive,
well-oiled machine.

I do think that there is
an understanding gap

between the civilians
and veterans.

Comfort farms
can assist in that.

It's a challenge, you know,

especially when you
don't have money, um,

and you just have a thought,
you know, but we do have grit.

Being a veteran, and sort of the
transition from military to veteran

goes through shedding
that idea of who you were and...

That veteran status not being
about what you used to be,

but about what you are now
and what you still have to give.

Yeah, it's named after my
ranger buddy, Kyle a. Comfort.

You're really
not here for comfort,

you're here to push yourself
past your comfort limits

because when you do that,
you grow, and stress is growth.

In the eye,
it's a popular white meat.

And so, with rabbit,

we're able to get these chefs
who want to do seasonal cooking

with a new type of protein
on their menu.

Uh, a lot of folks
with the advent of, uh...

The advent of, uh,
you know, television,

like food network and a lot
of chefs and things like that.

I mean, you got Hector Santiago,
he was on top chef,

ver here, he was on top chef,
you know.

People follow that kind of
stuff, and they're interested,

so they want to see new
and exciting things.

And, uh, rabbit is not new,

it was a main staple
of American cuisine,

main staple of European cuisine
and so, um, we grow rabbits here.

So we're not going to have
a high production of rabbits

but, um, we will have rabbits,

that are raised sustainably
and ethically, you know,

for what we... being at the farm.

We can get everything done and
then have folks over the weekend.

A lot of those chefs are going to have
all their meat and protein products

underneath the shelves.

And they are gonna
be underneath the tank

and they'll be able to prepare
all the meals tomorrow.

One of the things that we like
to do is use the stick method.

Some people like to use blunt force
trauma right to the base of the head,

but you're going
to ruin the meat,

if you don't hit it right, you'll
end up really hurting your rabbit.

J country loved

j is in the stars daily ;

j don't know j

but it's painted on the barn?

J I fell in loved

j for the first time
in the country;

j that's where I gotj

j my country love/j

Um, when you're emotionally
connected to something,

you're going to ensure
that they have a good life.

You're going to ensure that you
take the steps provided, uh,

that the quality of life is going
to be of the upmost importance.

If you're not emotionally
connected to it, um,

it's just more like a manufacturing
position just day in and day out.

You know, um, the value of these
animals is, is far more than money.

It's what they give us
when they are alive,

uh, the memories that we have
when they are alive,

things that we don't forget

and the conversations
that continue around the table

when we consume them.

J 1 can't have a house j

j on the side
of the highest mountain

j to the seal

j 1don't wanna died

j but if I've got to goj

j 1'd like to know j

j' that's where I'll bed

j tennesseej

Let me see if I
find the same place.

One, two...

Yep, right here,
that's exactly where,

that's exactly where it is,
you can feel it, right?

It's this...

It's right where the connection on the
top of the neck and back of the head is.

Yep, yep. Well, actually it's
a little bit higher than that

because right here is
where the back of the neck sits.

Yep, make sure you flush it
up against,

make sure it's pressed up
against when you press.

That's that.

I okay. Watch it.

That was just complete
killing it. -It kills them.

Yep. That's it.

Um, the stock and all
that he has is his troops.

He cares for them. He's, in a sense,
well, you know, the first sergeant.

He meets their needs,
he takes care of them,

socializes with them,
spends time with them, um,

on a small scale,
what they do for him,

is they give back
that emotional support.

The loss of life, um,

kind of resonates
to the building of life.

You know, um,

I would say probably
the most significant...

One of the most significant
events that we've had here

was with, um,
doing the butchery.

When we were slaughtering
rabbits and that woman...

And there was a lady,

um, she was crying on the side,
watching the rabbits,

you know,
being humanely put down.

And we watched her and we asked
her if everything was okay,

and she said, "yes." She nodded
her head and said yes.

She raised her hand,
she volunteered, she said,

“1 want to do this. ”

And when she went
and she held that rabbit

and she, you know,
put the stick down,

and she went to cervically
dislocate it, you know,

she was crying the whole way,

and one of our vets kind
of went over and said, "hey!"

And she kind of pushed them away
she goes, "no! I must do this."

That's what I appreciate
about humanity.

You know, the things
that, um, we don't want to do,

but we force ourselves to do it and we
push ourselves outside our comfort zone.

We have this conversation, right,
this philosophical conversation.

Should a farmer be, um,

emotionally attached to his
animals or to his livestock?

And most farmers will tell you,

"no, you never become emotionally
attached to your animals

because you have to slaughter them and
all this other kind of stuff", right?

But I do understand that need
to be connected with something

that you don't necessarily want
fo be connected to

because you want to take
ownership of that.

You want to be
held accountable for that.

We're out here, we're raising
these animals from,

literally, from birth
to slaughter,

and life is precious.

Life is...

I mean, life is sacred.

You know,
at the end of the day, um,

we put a lot of energy
into making sure

that our animals
are happy, you know.

Um, I used to say
that life is cheap

when my buddy
got killed in combat

and I would have to go
back out there the next day

and fight and just move on.

Life is cheap.

Um, but life doesn't have to be.

So, um, we will never devalue
our animals' life

by selling them cheaply
or selling them to people

who don't appreciate
the life that they led,

and I'll make sure of that.

A lot of consumers who are connected to
their food or connected to their farmer,

they want their farmers to have
some sort of, you know,

emotional attachment
to their animals,

understanding that,
you know, it is tough,

um, because when we are not
emotionally attached to our animals,

we allow atrocities to happen
that should never, never happen.

Um, I'm not saying that that's
how everybody should be,

but for my life, um, because I
do view life as sacred,

um, I want to know...

I want that animal to know,

um, that it was cared for,
whether it realizes it or not.

But, um,
you can tell big time that,

you know, through, um,
through how we raise our animals

and the... and the sustenance
that it provides for us

that these animals were loved.

And people don't like to see
animals being slaughtered,

they don't like to see their, you know,
their meat and things like that,

and I tell them
that's perfectly fine.

Then eat more vegetables.

If you can't eat the animal

or watch the animal be
slaughtered,

um, eat more vegetables.

Do that animal justice.

[Up-tempo musicl

You're sweating. =yeah.

=-nice.
I know, man, you're late, bro!

All Jon ever wanted for me...

All he wanted for me was to have
a good quality of life.

It taught me immensely, it's
really brought a lot of fire back to me

just digging in the dirt and
getting dirty it... it's healing.

He, every day, he wakes up,
he goes to work

because he knows that the end result
is going to be an organization

that he can
go to for therapy himself.

It's just being around other people
with the same mentality we have,

uh, the same dark humor,
the same jokes.

So you feel that sense
of dedication,

you know, to serve,
and it's all about the service.

It feeds the people, whether
they're veterans or not, you know.

It feeds the...
The local people good food.

It's local grown food.

If you want to eat crap,
go ahead and eat crap,

but if you want to eat something
that's been raised with love and care,

then we're here for you.

That's just the bottom line,
and that's just what we do.

And it's about quality

and, you know, the end goal is
the best product possible.

Right now, there are veterans who are
thinking about committing suicide,

and I want them
to listen to this quote,

it says, "just when the caterpillar
thought the world was over,

it became a butterfly."

So I'm talking to you,
if you're watching this,

put the gun down,
put the pills down.

There's life after this event.

Play the tape,
all the way through.

Realize that the greatness that
lies in you is just within reach.

Captain Kyle comfort.

Captain Kyle a. Comfort.

Captain Kyle a. Comfort.

He's no longer with us.

Captain Kyle comfort
was killed in action

in may of 2010,
serving in Afghanistan.

J / wanna be an airborne ranger

j'/ wanna be an airborne ranger

j build me a life
of love and danger ;

j build me a life
of love and danger j

j airborne ranger j

j 1 got caught in your eyes j

j and I realize
the size of the sunj

j I'he leaves may be wet/I

stopping one day,
listening to the birds,

thinking about my family,

realizing all the lives
that I'm affecting right now

and the one thing that came
to fruition for me

was that I was able to learn
how to love myself again.

And so with that,
I'm carrying on

the messages of my brothers and
sisters who are struggling,

and the families that
are enduring every day

to do what they need to do,

and for the community that wants
to be a part of what we're doing.

We're making some headway
in this effort

to lead not only
a food revolution,

but taking care of food needs
for our local communities

and also taking care of our vets
from the root down.

Our vets need to serve again,

and that's
what we're going to do.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I got two uniforms and.

J they love to live alone lj

without you, I'll never know j

j we trust youl

j make it home j

j we trust youl

j make it home j

J people throwing pennies
in a wishing well &

j wishing the well
is gonna run dry »

j but I ain't gonna
leave you tonight»

j everybody talking
about changing the world j;

j ihe world ain't
never gonna change?

J but you can always
change in front of me j

ji shuck all the oysters
and you keep the pearls

ji do my shucking
and my jiving for free;

j freed

j like walking
down the beach at night >

j put a bunch of lines out
to the one you want?

J "till you get itrignt?

J sometimes you don'tj

j getitrightt

j sometimes you won't'

J getitrightt

j but when you do/j

j it's out of sight

j sometimes you do/j

J getitrightt