The Headstrong Project Hosts Words of War

The thrills and horrors of combat... The experiences of families with loved ones at war... And especially, the difficulties for those returning home...

These were among the themes explored through celebrity readings -- by Jake Gyllenhaal and Joanne Tucker, among others -- of wartime poetry, literature and letters at Words of War, a presentation hosted by The Headstrong Project, which aims to provide cost-free, stigma-free mental healthcare to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As actor Anthony Edwards explains, "Headstrong is doing an event here that's fundraising for a specific project they're doing, which is getting vets into PTSD programs so it's really about helping Afghan and Iraq vets heal coming back from the war."

Chairman of the Headstrong Project, former Marine officer and Iraq veteran Zach Iscol shared the importance of including poems from earlier eras in the presentation: "It sort of shows that there's nothing abnormal or new about the struggles that we face when we come home from war."

Also in attendance, actor Jamie Hector, who noted the impacts of war are long-lasting. His message to our vets? "The war doesn't end when you come home, we understand that, and we're here to support you."

Bryan Doerries of Theatre of War commends The Headstrong Project for striving to communalize the experience of war through the sharing of texts from those with firsthand war experience: "I think what these folks are trying to do is to remove the barriers to treatment and to healing."

And the night was personally poignant for actress Anna Chlumsky, the wife of a veteran: "The only way to really understand one another is to communicate, and so this is I think a collective way to create a safe space. And that's a beautiful thing."