Dear Sergeant Mills,
Thank you for your service - both in the military and out. In the next few weeks I will be completing a Learning Guide on your movie to put on our site, TeachWithMovies.org (TWM). We will also recommend your book. TWM helps show teachers and parents how to use film to support education. Your story is one that, as an educator and a parent, I believe that all U.S. kids should know.
Each year, more than 1.1 million teachers and home schoolers come to our site looking for suggestions about how to use movies in education. The site is free. Check it out. (We also have suggestions for parents of children 3 – 8, go to and also try out This might give you some ideas about raising your daughter.
One thing that’s amazing about your story is the Army medical system that saved your life. I’d like to give students a time-line. Do you know how much time it took the helicopter to come and get you in the field? How much time did it take to get you to the hospital in Kandahar? You may not know this but if you do, I’d like to be able to tell this to students.
I have pieced together most of the timeline after that from your book. Within a day or so you were on your way to Landsthul (p. 181) and four full days sedated (p. 182). Your injury was on April 10. On April 17 you were transferred to Walter Reed. (p. 194). On 6/7/12 (48 days after the injury) you walked for the first time. (p. 218) and 9/11/2012 was the day you walked in the 5K Tunnel to Towers Marathon (p. 228). Are there any other dates that were milestones in your recovery that you would want American students to know about? If so, tell me and I will consider putting it on the Learning Guide.
Also, it’s always good to tell students what you are doing now. I’d love to be able to briefly interview about that. (If you are going to be in Southern California any time soon, we could film it.) Feel free to call me at 310-917-1940 – that’s LA time, or email me at .
Sincerely yours, James Frieden, TWM