Since the start of the "war on terror" more than 2.5 million U.S. service members have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. While general narratives have emerged around the wars, rarely is the story told exclusively from the soldier’s perspective.

In this short animation, veteran and writer Colby Buzzell describes a day on the ground in Iraq. “I’ve put the events of that day in a shoebox, put the lid on it, and I haven’t opened it since” says Buzzell. But the soldier's story comes to life now through stunning animation by filmmaker Evan Parsons. Since Buzzell's deployment in Iraq from 2003 to 2005, he has written extensively about his experiences during the war, including the book My War: Killing Time in Iraq.

The short film is an excerpt from a longer documentary titled Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience. The movie grew out of an initiative of the same name by the National Endowment for the Arts to help troops and families record their wartime stories from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United States.

Evan Parsons is a Los Angeles based graphic designer and filmmaker. He is currently directing a film titled Ladybug. To find more information about Parsons visit his website http://thisisnave.com/

This film was produced by Edgeworx Studios.

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