Spotlight on a #SOT @US_Fallen #HonorTheFallen #MoS

I chanced upon Jerry Castillo while searching You Tube for honorable tributes to Our Fallen Brothers.  What I found was before the foundation of his Non-Profit: www.USFallen.org  It was his personal work, aside from his work @CastiloMedia.  It was his way to use his civilian skills to Honor Our Fallen.

We've chatted only briefly in email, but his work speaks for itself.  There are no politics involved.  He won't sully the Men and Women who've given all for Our Nation with such dishonor. 

Nor is it simply about their last return home.  He manages to find stories of their lives, quotes from those that knew Our Troops in life.

I applaud his work, his dedication, and his results.  He has found a great balance of rendering Final Honors without allowing profiteering to taint his work.  I have not found any other that does so with the same quality, the same dedication, the same Honor.

Comments

[US_Fallen]

Your kind words are appreciated. In June of this year I found myself laid off for the 2nd time in two years. Rather than waiting for the phone to ring or rejection emails I needed to keep my skills sharp. Editing is an art form to me and I needed an outlet. I come from a military family, father WWII, brother Vietnam and I served in USAF during peace time, I decided to explore the subject. I found many tributes on YouTube that were done with good intentions, but seemed less than honorable for our fallen. So I thought I would try my hand at it.

I studied the successful YouTubers and took queues from them on how to set up a good channel. Get lots of traffic to your channel and subscribers to attract advertisers and rake in the bucks. What I overlooked was their topics were humorous, entertaining or political in nature.

Though I attract a lot of people to my channel not many are willing to subscribe because my subject is not funny, entertaining and I don't allow political debates. As a result my total advertising revenue is $1.69 as of this morning.

So I realized this was really not the forum for my subject. This is what led me to launch USfallen.org as an alternative with minimum ads and ask for donations instead. Donations trickle in, but not enough to launch a charity.

As for my work I like to consider it a collaboration between me and the fallen. Their spirits speak to me and I listen. It sounds crazy I know, but I stopped counting the number of times I could not find information or photos to publish. I would ask them to send me the information they want me to convey. I would set up a google alert and usually within 10 minutes the article was delivered to my email box.

You might say I have become a warrior whisperer. Some can be challenging and uncooperative others play pranks. In the end they fall in and allow me to finish my work.

Most are proud of what they died for and would not hesitate to do it again. Others are tormented souls and they just needed to rest.

I know my videos can be emotional and painful to watch, but the few minutes of discomfort pales in comparison to what the survivors endure. The private emails from parents, siblings, spouses and children only make more determined to continue with my work. Not for glory but help others understand what war really means and the price some must pay.

I am about to launch a fund raiser campaign in hopes of covering the basic expenses and legal fees for 501(3)(c) status. This will afford me the opportunity to solicit foundations and corporate sponsorship. I hope I can count on you for assistance.

Thanks,
Jerry Castillo
USFallen.org