Why Gary Sinise Wants Every US Service Member and Veteran to See 'Brothers After War'

Although Gary Sinise has been a presence in the lives of so many Americans in uniform since the start of the Global War on Terrorism, it might surprise people to learn that the Gary Sinise Foundation was only started in 2011. Before that, it was just Sinise himself, going wherever vets and first responders needed a boost. He donated equipment, funded workshops and would sometimes just show up to entertain troops at the head of the Lt. Dan Band.

In the more than 30 years since "Forrest Gump," he's visited service members and veterans all over the world, some of whom are quick to show him photos of the last time they met -- and still call him "Lieutenant Dan."

"I always get a kick out of it," Sinise told Military.com. "In fact, it's always been helpful in some ways. The 'Lieutenant Dan' story is the happy ending that we want for everybody who gets wounded, everybody who serves. We want them to come home from war and be OK."

But as those who served know, not everyone comes home from war OK. In fact, that's the subject of "Brothers After War," a new documentary from filmmaker Jake Rademacher for which Sinise served as an executive producer. A follow-up to his 2009 film "Brothers at War," Rademacher catches up with the soldiers and Marines he met while embedded in Iraq after 15 years to examine how their lives were shaped by their experiences and find out how they're really doing.

The film hits theaters on Feb. 28, 2025, and Sinise wants to make sure every veteran, service member, first responder and family member has a chance to see the film for free. He not only helped fund and produce the movie, the Gary Sinise Foundation partnered with Regal Cinema and made the largest-ever donation (to the tune of $150,000) to entertainment nonprofit Vet Tix to make sure those free tickets are available. And it's not just because Sinise wants his project to succeed -- rather, it's a matter of bridging a civil-military divide that he believes has only widened.

"For years now, I felt like generally there's a disconnect between our service members and first responders and a big portion of the American people who may not have a personal connection to them," Sinise said. "It's important to educate people on why we need to support those that are willing to raise their hand and go out there and do the dirty, difficult work to defend us at home. Education is a part of our mission at the Gary Sinise Foundation, and 'Brothers After War' can help provide a better understanding of what it was like to put on the uniform and serve in dangerous places like Iraq and Afghanistan."

Related: 'Brothers After War': A Filmmaker Teams Up with Gary Sinise to Reunite Iraq War Veterans 20 Years Later

The foundation is doing more than screening the film for service members, veterans and their families. Ever since Rademacher released his first film in 2009, Sinise and the Gary Sinise Foundation have funded numerous workshops designed to create a dialogue among veterans after seeing the film. The workshops led to a tour of workshops, a workbook and even a video for groups to guide their own discussions. The two have the same workshop plan for "Brothers After War." Thousands of returning U.S. troops and family members have taken part in these discussions -- and the results speak for themselves.

"What I've heard from people that do that is, they had no idea the level of sacrifice, that the film touched them deeply, that they never truly understood what veterans meant when they said the hardest part of war was coming home," Rademacher, who runs the workshops, told Military.com. "It didn't make sense to them, but now in the film, they're starting to understand what that means.

"We want them to experience camaraderie," he added. "We want them to talk about the film. We hope that they'll see their story or one of the stories of the 12 veterans on screen, and we hope they'll turn to their family member they came with and start talking about their experience."

Using performance art to spark a dialogue among veterans is actually nothing new for Sinise. While at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 1984, he directed a play about the Vietnam War experience written by a group of Vietnam veterans. So many vets from all over the city came to watch it, the company made every Tuesday a night of free admission for them.

"It turned into this incredible experience," Sinise recalled. "Not only was the show really good, it was a really powerful show, and my cast was awesome. We would pack the theater every Tuesday, and then we would have post-show discussions. It made them think, and they related to the characters. ... All of a sudden, this healing happened. The expression of these stories was just coming out of these veterans, based on what they had seen on stage. So when I started the Gary Sinise Foundation, we wanted to make arts and entertainment outreach a part of our veteran experience. I wanted to continue to engage veterans and connect them with the theater community."

"The Gary Sinise Foundation is really enabling our veterans to come together as a community and recreate that experience that he created firsthand 40 years ago," Rademacher added. "Now let's do it for this generation of vets. It was powerful for the Vietnam vets, and we owe it to the War on Terror vets to give them our cultural town square, our movie theaters and focus the spotlight on them and say, 'These are the people that we love.'"

"Some of the most amazing people I've ever met have served our country in uniform," Sinise said. "They've inspired me. And if I can continue to support them and help them, that's a great privilege for me. It gives life a great purpose to be able to do something with the success I've had."

"Brothers After War" opens in 100 Regal Cinemas across the United States, beginning Feb. 28. To find a showtime, visit the movie's website. To get free tickets, viewers will need a verified Vet Tix account. Find out how to get one through the Vet Tix website.

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