Trauma, identity, humor and political incorrectness.

VET Tv: exclusive programming by and for ex-combatants

Abstract

The following source proposal consists of a brief analysis of the streaming platform VET TV, a pay-per-view channel for comedy series and clips created by ex-marine Danny Maher and other ex-combatants of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on 2016, California. A project designed with no political or critical intent, but to create humorous visual consumer content by and for veterans inspired by war film culture and the current profusion of social networks and technology. With the aim of creating and maintaining bonds of camaraderie and support between ex-combatants, making visible aspects of trauma and military life, and maintaining part of this combat humor, VETS TV shows at the same time very specific aspects of the culture of combatants and veterans in parallel with the civilian world once they have been reintegrated. The exuberant masculinity, the sexual humor, the crude vocabulary linked to military deployment, the violence linked to PTSD and the insistence on wanting to express the reality of the war experience, emphasizing the modern infantry soldier, are some of the points to highlight in its analysis, both of the contents and of the intentions of its creators