“I’m a mid-western boy. I grew up in Madison Wisconsin,” explains U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Kyle Hausmann-Stokes. My grandparents have a farm there. But at 18, I needed to do something different than my friends. As much as I love the heartland, I needed to get out of there and do something on my own.

“My grandfather served two tours in Vietnam. He is a lieutenant colonel. My uncle was in the Air Force and the Army. He served one tour in Iraq. The Army has been a legacy in my family.”

And so Kyle enlisted in the United States Army and became a 19-Delta Cavalry Scout/Reconnaissance Specialist.  From January 2002 to August 2004, Kyle was assigned to the 1st of the 509th (AIRBORNE) Infantry at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), at Fort Polk, Louisiana.  He completed a variety of infantry specialty schools, such as Airborne, Air Assault, Expert Driver (Wheeled/Track), Advanced Combat Lifesaver, and the Primary Leadership Development Course where he was an Honor Graduate.

His unit simulated true-to-life jungle and urban warfare scenarios for soldiers preparing for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.  His unit’s mission was to be a canny “opposing force” working against a majority of the Army’s Combat Brigades, U.S. Army Rangers, Marine Recon, U.S. Navy SEALS, and U.S. Air Force Combat Controllers. Kyle became an expert in asymmetrical/insurgency warfare,

“We had permission to wear clothes we found at the Good Will Store. We could grow beards and let our hair get long and shaggy.  We did not look at all like soldiers.”

The years spent at JRTC in Louisiana would also be the foundation for his emergence as a soldier-filmmaker; Kyle filmed everything from tank missions and urban warfare to the unit’s monthly paratroop jumps from U.S. and Russian planes and helicopters.

“We were an airborne unit and my camera was always with me.  Every month, we jumped out of C-130s, Hueys, Blackhawks, Chinooks, I filmed the action. I had a passion for film and made a number of videos.”

Hausmann-Stokes would edit his footage taken from maneuvers and add a heavy metal soundtrack. Every month, his popular videos were played to an appreciative audience at the post theatre. 

“Ironically, people from the units his team had recently soundly beaten would come to the screenings just to see themselves,” Hausmannn-Stokes explains. “I became pretty well known as the ‘battalion film guy.’

A Change of Plans

In August 2004, Kyle’s active service obligation was coming to an end. Despite his unit’s extraordinary knowledge of enemy operations, they had never been deployed to Iraq.

“I was three weeks from exiting my active duty commitment and I had made big plans. I had the GI Bill ready to go and was enrolled at Arizona State University. I had located an apartment near the campus. It was exciting to be moving on in my life. But then the unit commander informed us of a change would be affecting the entire unit.”

The Pentagon informed Kyle’s unit leadership that it was on alert and would soon be sent to Iraq. All soldiers who were scheduled to ETS (end term of service) were ordered to continue on active duty (Stop Loss). 

“I will never forget that day.  I think I was cleaning a 50 caliber barrel and I nearly dropped it on my foot. My parents took the news very hard….I was angry but probably more disappointed than anything. In my heart, I realized that I had signed up for eight years of obligation. I had to live up to my commitment. At least I would be going over with some well-trained buddies.

That was a very bad time for U.S. forces in Iraq and Hausmannn-Stokes was intimately aware of what tactics were being used against our side.

“I had in-depth knowledge of how effective the insurgency could be. As ‘insurgents’ our team never lost. I must have ‘killed’ 30 Americans with laser tag. Our military at the time was not prepared for that type of asymmetrical warfare. ”

“At that time I was 21 and had not been to college. All my friends from high school were nearly at the end of their college experience and so I felt that this turn of events somehow put me a lot further behind. They were talking about ‘keg parties’ and girls while I was marching in the red mud and high humidity of Fort Polk questioning if I had taken the wrong path.”

An Unexpected Change

Literally within days of being shipped out, Kyle was called into his commanding officer’s office. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Griffith told Hausmannn-Stokes that he had seen several of the videos and admired professionalism in his work. The videos were good for morale and helped to explain what it was the unit did. And then the bombshell: The colonel told Hausmannn-Stokes that he alone was to avoid the stop-loss and be allowed to discharge as planned.

Colonel Griffith recognized Kyle’s innovative creative abilities and cut orders for him to go to college and learn more about the art of filmmaking. The primary condition would be that Hausmann-Stokes would seek out the best film school in the nation and do his best to relate the soldiers’ story.

And so, as his buddies were drawing weapons and being issued dessert fatigues for imminent deployment, in August, 2004, Kyle was separated from his unit and honorably discharged from active duty.

“I numbly saluted and said, ‘Thank you sir.’ And soon pointed my car west on Interstate 10. As I drove to my future, I had time to examine my mixed feelings. I felt bad that my buddies were going to Iraq and I was not. Nevertheless, my life would take a new direction, one that might possibly involve ‘kegs and girls,’ who knows,” Hausmann-Stokes laughs at the recollection. 

Kyle immediately made the most of his good fortune. He attended and earned honors at Arizona State University, Universidad de Madrid in Spain, and the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA).

Between (and during) semesters, he interned at a variety of reputable film and television production companies.  Entertainment industry positions/projects of note include Mosaic Media Group (Batman Begins, Talladega Nights), Rockfight/HKM (Crest, KFC, GoDaddy.com), and LUA Multimedia/Canal Vivir (nationwide Spanish news syndicate).

“I went to Madrid, Spain for five months where I worked in television there and got the chance to do some producing.” 

The culmination would take place in September of 2006, when Hausmann-Stokes was accepted into the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts-Production Program. It was a dream come true. Going to SC would be a wonderful opportunity and he could fulfill his commitment to his unit and his commanding officer. 

A Change in Destiny 

During the very same week of celebration about SC film school and the week of his birthday, Hausmann-Stokes received a very disturbing, surreal letter. The Department of Defense informed him that he was being recalled to active duty. And furthermore, he would be deployed to Iraq.

“It makes me think that someone up there is a film director with a flair for the dramatic. The letter said, ‘You are hereby relieved of your inactive status and ordered to serve no less than 545 days of active duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.’”

Hausmann-Stokes had been away from the military two and a half years.  His recall to active duty was a rare exception.  He had discarded most of his military gear. He had grown rusty on military protocol. In his favor, he had remained in good physical condition.

“I spent the next two months contemplating what I should do. I felt guilty not going over with the 509^th. My parents were very concerned about this turn of events. Yet, I saw the deployment as a way to do some film projects. It would be an amazing opportunity to document things.”   

His parents were persuasive in asking Hausmann-Stokes to file a petition to be exempted from this active duty based on his enrollment with the film school.

“It turned out that my enrollment in the film school would indeed exempt me from the deployment. In December, I received a telephone call informing me that my appeal had been approved and I would not need to go, after all.”

His was a strong sense of duty, integrity and commitment to the military as well as to his country. So, at 23 years of age and after a long, fitful night, he decided that going was an obligation that he could not walk away from. He informed the Army to rip up his appeal. He would go.  Then he needed to ask the film school if he could be deferred while he served.

“USC was very accommodating to me. They said, ‘Let us know when you are coming back and we’ll keep a seat warm for you.’”

From May 2007 to May 2008, Kyle served as a squad leader and convoy commander in Iraq as a member of the 1st of the 160th Infantry Battalion.  Promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant while in country, Kyle presided over as many as 7 gun trucks and 20 soldiers at a time.  He completed over 80 combat logistical patrols, traveled over 30,862 miles of the Iraqi countryside, accounted for over $800,000 of equipment, and was subject to  roadside bombs and enemy small arms fire.  For his actions under fire and meritorious service throughout the year-long deployment, Kyle was awarded 2 Army Achievement Medals and the Bronze Star.

Just before this deployment, while presenting his ASU award-winning film Unwelcome Home at the GI Film Festival, Washington, DC, Kyle befriended the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation, which subsequently provided him equipment he used to shoot over 40 hours of combat footage, soldier testimonials, and interviews with a variety of Iraqi local nationals. 

This frontline style of documentation eventually attracted the sponsorship and beta-testing privileges from V.I.O.s Wearable Video Technology Division.  V.I.O.’s lipstick-sized camera technology allowed Kyle’s combat photography to thrive, enabling him to position cameras in places never before seen in a military environment.       

Background on the Film, “Now, After”

Hausmann-Stokes returned to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in August 2008.  In his first semester of film school he wrote, directed, and produced 5 short digital films of various lengths and genres.  Kyle’s third and most personal film, reflects a combat-veteran-turned-student’s daily struggle with PTSD and his journey to get help. 

The college campus is more than a world away from the brutality that Hausmann-Stokes witnessed first hand. 

“Students are preoccupied with other things.  When the TV monitors in common areas report on three dead in a given province from an IED, they are disinterested. I, on the other hand, wonder if the lives lost are buddies that I left. I’m still very much attuned to the war and the cost it is exacting.”

I started my first semester at USC and I had to make five films. This film is one of them. It is 100% autobiographical and at one time I was the miserable kid in that film. I was that young troubled combat vet. Today, I still am that college student who you might see walking around the campus.”

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Link to the film by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, "Now, After:>>