Today, America has nearly 18 million living military veterans, from the “Greatest Generation” to men and women coming home from recent tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They join the now-silent ranks of American veterans reaching back to our earliest conflict, the Revolutionary War. 

American Veteran illuminates the veteran experience with a stunning range of voices from today and across the arc of American history. 

The four-part series will be re-airing on PBS on Sunday November 6, 2022, starting at 2pm ET.

GENERAL STREAMING: NOV 6-DEC 4, 2022                                 

ALWAYS AVAILABLE ON PBS PASSPORT

The military is part of America’s founding story – a project to which, as George Washington put it, every citizen owed “his personal services.” In war and in peace, what veterans have done in America’s name, and how they have been treated when they return, is woven into the fabric of the American story and has had a profound impact on our nation. 

For those who have served, from the beginning of the republic to the present, military service has been a transformative experience. What is that experience, and how does it change the men and women who have joined the ranks?  And throughout the nation’s history, how have vets been perceived? Sometimes honored, sometimes reviled, ignored, or forgotten, veterans may re-enter civilian life to encounter a population that often has little or no knowledge of their experience.