All language subtitles for T.G.I.M.C.S01E01.A.Soldier.A.Screenwriter.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Eric was reliving
this horrific death every night

in his dreams.

He would tell us
that he was killed.

How were you killed?

And he would say, I was crushed.

His pictures started looking
crazy, bodies going everywhere.

It was all so frightening.

Elijah talked about dying
and falling from an airplane.

He was just irate.

He would scream.

He would cry.

There was really
nothing we could do.

Something really
traumatic was happening.

He was being consumed
by thoughts of war.

We became scared that
something might happen.

That's when the horror set in.

He yelled, incoming.

I said, oh, god, what
are we going to do?

From the time Eric was born, I
never got a full night's sleep.

I was concerned that Eric's
past life trauma was affecting

him in this life.

Oh, my god.

This is really happening.

Chenoa is a small
town of about 1,800 people.

The word Chenoa is a
Native American term that

means dark and bloody ground.

That term dates back to
the mid-19th century.

Typical small
town in Illinois.

Most of the people
in Chenoa, Illinois

are associated with farming.

Jen and I have two children--

Eric and Salem.

James and I had a lot of
problems getting pregnant.

It took us 14 months
to get pregnant,

and then we lost the baby.

We had to wait two months before
we could start trying again,

and then it took us another 10
months before we got pregnant

with Eric.

I was very happy
when I got pregnant.

I was very excited.

Finally, finally, pregnant.

Eric was born June 21, 2006.

Eric was very adventurous
when he started crawling.

You'd have to keep an
eye on him because he'd

be all over the place.

He would speak complete
sentences way ahead

of his peers.

He had all of
his milestones early.

He started walking around 11
months, chattering very young,

speaking in small
sentences shortly

after he turned a year old.

He was very healthy.

Very smart for his age.

Eric was around
a year and a half

the first time I
ever heard him say

that he had had a bad dream.

Eric suffered from
night terrors.

From the time Eric was born, I
never got a full night's sleep.

I was exhausted.

And he had had a bad dream,
and he started to tell me

about how he was in his
castle up in the sky

before he was Eric.

And he met me and his
dad up in the castle

before we became mom and dad.

I remember what
color my castle was.

It was blue.

Up in the sky on a big cloud.

And he would have
conversations about the castle

in the sky and how
he was up there,

but he could look
down and see everybody

and how he picked
his mommy and me.

He told me that he was really
scared to leave his castle

to come down and become Eric.

And he said that it was because
he was scared, that that's why

he didn't come the first time.

I immediately thought
about the miscarriage.

He was telling me that
he was actually that baby

that I had lost.

All those years I had
thought that I lost the baby.

That I had an angel baby,
this other child that I never

got to hold.

So for Eric to tell
me about it, it was--

it was kind of a relief.

I immediately was
trying not to burst out

into tears in front of him.

It made me feel like I actually
had the child I was supposed

to have.

I asked him how he got
down here to become Eric,

and Eric told me that he climbed
down a ladder to become Eric.

And I asked him how he knew it
was time to leave his castle

to become Eric,
and he looked at me

and he goes, well, duh,
it was my birthday.

As we approached
Eric's third birthday,

he was getting super
excited about it

and would ask me all the time
to show him on the calendar

when his birthday was.

Eric's birthday is June 21.

I would tell Eric, this is your
birthday and point to June 21.

And he would say, no,
that's my birthday,

and point over to June 26.

He would argue that the 26th
was his birthday, not the 21st.

That he was just irate
that that was his birthday.

We didn't really
know what was going on.

Things were quiet
for a little while,

and then something
else happened.

Eric's middle name
is Cole, and whenever

he would say his full name,
he would say Eric Coe.

I thought he had trouble
pronouncing the L,

so I would try to
pronounce it more clearly.

It's Cole.

And he said, no, it's Coe.

It was my mommy's name.

And I said, your mommy's
name is Jennifer.

And he goes, is that your name?

And I said, well, yeah,
I'm your mommy, aren't I?

And he goes, no, you're my kid.

That's my daughter's name.

You're my daughter.

Ninety Six is
a great little town.

I've lived all over the
country and all over the world,

and this place is great
because it's a small town.

Everybody knows everybody.

Kids can go play in the park.

You don't have to
worry about them.

You can leave your
doors unlocked at night.

Ninety Six has
a historic past.

It's the home of two
Revolutionary War battles.

One of the battles at Star
Fort was one of the most famous

in the Revolutionary War.

I recently returned
from a tour in Iraq.

I came back in May of
2012, and to the joy,

I was able to embrace my family.

It was one of the greatest
things I've ever experienced.

My husband and I have
two children-- our oldest,

Mia Elizabeth, and
our son, Elijah.

From the very beginning,
I knew that Elijah

was an exceptional child.

Most kids come out
kicking and screaming,

and he came out just
very calm, just kind

of checking the place out.

They cleaned him up and laid
him down in a little bassinet,

and he rolled over.

And that was just unheard
of for a newborn baby

two minutes after being
born to roll over.

And then things start
happening with him.

When he was crawling, he
would pull one leg behind him.

And I said, Elijah,
what are you doing?

You're crawling like
a lobster sideways.

I took him immediately
to the doctor

to see if something was
wrong with that leg,

and he told the doctor, shot.

And the doctor said, we
didn't give you a shot.

He said, no, bang, bang.

Elijah would talk
about the things that

had happened to him.

They were kind of like
little shock moments.

He would have something
that would happen,

just normal things
for toddlers his age--

you know, fall
down, get a scratch,

and, oh, I fell out
of that airplane

and my pillows didn't
open fast enough.

And you think, pillows?

What is he talking about?

And then he'd say, the
pillows over my head.

Well, that's not
going to do anything

to help you when you fall.

Oh, wait a minute,
you mean parachutes?

And he was like,
yes, parachutes.

When I would put
Elijah to bed sometimes,

he would start talking
about children.

He said children getting hurt.

I said, yes, children get hurt.

Children with thing
on their shirt.

I said, what are you
talking about, baby?

And he would get this little
book that he would draw in.

He said, these children.

And he would put x's all
over their little side.

And I said, are you trying
to draw a star [inaudible]??

What are you
talking about, baby?

I think you're making up things.

His pictures started
looking crazy--

people hiding in the dark.

You could see
children laying down,

or you could see people blowing
up and bodies going everywhere.

It was all so frightening.

He would talk about
being shot, and the pain,

and talked about the blood
that was all over himself.

What got me was he
talked about his ears

ringing from explosions.

And these are things that a
two or three-year-old kid just

wouldn't know.

Some of the things that
Elijah would talk about,

the bad things that
happened to him,

they were kind of painful to
watch him go through explaining

them.

I think the most emotional
for me, the most painful moment,

was when he was a toddler and
we had gone to a friend's house

for 4th of July
celebration, and they

were starting the fireworks.

And immediately,
I saw his terror.

He yelled, incoming.

Something really
traumatic was happening.

Almost as soon as
Elijah could talk,

he started drawing
lots of scenes of war.

My mind was swirling.

I was so confused.

I didn't know what
to make of it.

We would go watch fireworks.

It would scare him to death.

He couldn't actually
sit and watch fireworks.

We had gone to a friend's
house for 4th of July

celebration.

They were starting
the fireworks,

and immediately
I saw his terror.

He yelled, incoming.

Where did that come from?

And he ran to me and threw
himself over me to protect me.

He kept saying, head
down, mom, head down.

And he kept pushing
his hand on my head.

I yelled for Matthew.

Something really
traumatic was happening.

I said, oh, god, what
are we going to do?

Matthew just held Elijah and
said, it's not happening.

This is not happening.

This is fireworks.

There's no bombs.

He was so small, and I knew
that he was hurting inside.

And it frightened me, and
I wanted to take it away,

but I couldn't.

Holding him and comforting
him wasn't going to fix it.

I'm a Southern Baptist.

It frightened me.

And I told my son-in-law, Matt--

I said, Matt, Elijah scares me.

While we were trying to figure
out all that Elijah was going

through, my husband
understood what was happening.

I think a lot of
people's natural reaction

would think that
there's something

wrong with their child.

What really helped me
out was some experiences

that I had when I was younger.

When I was a young boy, I
was having these reoccurring

dreams.

I was in trenches as
if it was World War I

and there were artillery
shells coming around me.

To this day, those
memories I still have.

I mean, we didn't even have a
TV until I was six or seven.

So to have the images in
my head and the memories

that I had had to have
come from what I believe

was a past life experience.

It was very important for me to
find out what was really going

on with this because
when I was a child,

I was told that it's
just a dream, you know.

Move on.

It's just something that you
watched or you heard about

or you listened to on the radio.

This isn't something
that you experienced.

You just had a nightmare.

Well, I knew it wasn't that.

When you have the same dream
over and over for many years,

it's not just a nightmare,
and It's not just a dream.

It's some kind of memory
trying to get out.

It seems only fitting
that my son would

go through the same thing.

It was easy for me to
understand and know

that this is the direction
that we need to go.

We need to find out
what he's experienced,

and if there's anything
we need to do to help him.

One of the things that
stood out the most to me

that Elijah and I
experienced together

was when he was first
learning how to read,

we would do flash
cards together,

and I picked up the word
no and he said nine.

And I was like, that's
extremely weird.

I turned around and I
said, no, no, Elijah.

This is not a number.

This says no.

And he said nine.

He kept shaking his head like
he knew exactly what he was

talking about.

He was speaking a
different language.

One evening, when Elijah
was a toddler, the TV was on

and it was on the
History Channel.

And they were talking
about World War II

and Hitler was standing
up and he was speaking,

and you know how he is with
such a boisterous voice.

And Elijah was
looking at the TV,

and he just started
laughing like crazy.

I said, what is it?

And I said, Elijah,
what are you laughing at?

That is Hitler.

There's nothing about
that man that's funny.

He said, oh, mama, he
thinks he's beautiful.

Then the translation came up.

Hitler was actually
telling a joke.

He was actually making moves
like this, like he's handsome.

I couldn't even understand
what the man was saying,

but moments later, when
the translation came up,

it verified what he
was talking about.

And he just laughed
as if it was normal.

Everybody should know
how to speak German.

I'm more skeptical,
more analytical,

and I thought Elijah
had these memories.

Maybe he got it
from this or that.

But when he was
understanding German,

that couldn't be denied.

Some of the things that
Elijah was telling me about--

the wounds that he had,
the shells falling around.

Then he started talking about
jumping out of airplanes

and pillows opening, or
parachutes opening, and Hitler,

I knew that it had
to be World War II.

So that's where we knew we
needed to start looking.

I knew he had to have
been a German soldier,

but come to find out, he wasn't.

Sometimes I thought
Eric was just telling stories,

that he had a really
good imagination

and was making up
stories to share with me.

I didn't know what
he was going through.

I was extremely nervous.

Eric's middle name
is Cole, and whenever

he would say his full
name, he would say, no.

It's Coe.

That was my mommy's name.

I freaked out.

It was like somebody slapped
me, that I could feel it down

into the very core of me.

What was he talking
about, his other mommy?

And I said, your mommy's
name is Jennifer.

And he goes, is that your name?

And I said, well, yeah,
I'm your mommy, aren't I?

And he goes, no, you're my kid.

That's my daughter's name.

You're my daughter.

It was the strangest thing
I'd ever heard him say.

It still is.

From the time Eric was able
to speak complete sentences,

he was always talking
about Hollywood.

He talked
about Hollywood everyday.

He wanted to go to Hollywood
because he had to go to work.

He needed to do things
at his other house.

He had things he needed to
fix there, things he needed

to buy for his other house.

And he had to go to Hollywood
so he could make the money

to be able to do the
things for his other house.

As time went on, he was
getting mad for not taking him

to Hollywood.

Eric started to put up
a fight for everything.

He wasn't going to go to school.

He wasn't going to eat.

He wasn't going to take a bath
or go to bed until we took him

to Hollywood.

We didn't really know what
was going on with Eric.

Eric's fascination
with Hollywood

got so bad that his father and
I worried that he might wake up

one morning before we were up
and climb on a chair to unlock

the door to go ahead and
try to leave on his own

to go to Hollywood.

We became scared that something
might happen because of it.

We didn't know if had
come from watching the TV,

but he watched a
lot of cartoons,

and there's not really a
whole lot of Hollywood spoken

in cartoons.

I was a stay at home mom,
and I controlled everything

he was exposed to on TV.

My first thought was that
somebody in the family

let him watch something
while he was over.

And I was actually kind of mad
over what my family might have

exposed him to.

And through all of
this, his night terrors

kept getting worse.

He would wake up every
night, sometimes crying.

And on a few occasions,
he would tell us

that he was killed.

How were you killed?

And he would say, I was crushed.

And as a parent, you
want to protect them,

but there was really
nothing we could do.

It made me feel helpless
because he was having them

every single night.

Our three-year-old son,
Eric, believed his birthday was

on the wrong day, that
he had another mother,

and suffered from night terrors.

I never got a full
night's sleep.

I was exhausted.

All of these things
that had been going on--

the other mommy, the
other house, his birthday,

having this fascination
with Hollywood-- none

of these things
really made sense.

As we're trying
to figure it out,

James said, well, maybe he's
remembering a past life.

And everything clicked
at that moment.

It was the first time that there
had been anything suggested

that could make sense of all
of Eric's weird behavior.

We were sitting at the
kitchen table having dinner.

Eric was just in a
real Hollywood mood.

He's just saying he was going
to go back to Hollywood,

he's gotta go to work.

He would keep saying that
he has to go to work.

So I said, well,
what do you exactly

do you do for work
out in Hollywood?

And he said, you know, stuff.

You know, like a two,
three-year-old would say.

Well, what kind of stuff?

Are you an actor?

He goes, oh, no, I
don't like actors.

I said, well were
you a director?

And he would just
shrug his shoulders.

And I said, did you
write something?

Were you a writer?

And Eric goes, yeah.

I write movies and other stuff.

So James goes, well, did
you write "Casablanca"?

And Eric said, no.

And I asked, did
you write "Ben Hur"?

And Eric said, no.

And then James asked, did you
write "Gone with the Wind"?

And Eric's face just lit
up and he lifted his head

and he said, yeah,
I write that movie.

You know that movie?

That's my movie.

I had always been
open to reincarnation,

but I had never thought
about it in relation to Eric

and what Eric was remembering.

I mean, my heart
just started racing.

I went to the computer
and did a search

for who wrote "Gone
with the Wind,"

and I discovered that a man
named Sidney Howard wrote

the screenplay for the movie.

The first thing that caught my
attention was his middle name

was Coe.

Eric had always
pronounced his middle name

as Coe instead of Cole.

And as I read down
through it, it

said that Coe had been
his mother's maiden name.

Eric had told me that he
was named Coe after his mom.

Then, it listed his
children's names,

and his oldest daughter
went by the name Jennifer.

When Eric found out
my name was Jennifer,

he told me that I
was his daughter.

And I saw off to the side
that it had his birthday

as June 26, which was the
day that Eric insisted

his birthday was.

At that point,
I was a believer.

He was Sidney Howard.

That's when his mother
also looked up the way

that Sidney Howard passed.

Sidney Howard died because
he was crushed to death

by a tractor on his farm.

And Eric was reliving this
horrific death every night

in his dreams.

I couldn't do anything to
help him with the nightmares.

I couldn't prevent them.

I couldn't even do much to
calm him down afterwards.

I was concerned that Eric's
past life trauma was affecting

him in this life.

As Elijah had
these memories, it

seemed that his whole little
childhood was being consumed

by thoughts of war.

What if he had a memory
that was so traumatic--

I mean, my family's full
of soldiers on both sides,

and I know what they feel
when they come back from war.

Imagine being born
with those memories.

Some of the things that
Elijah was telling me about--

the wounds that he had,
the shells falling around.

He started talking about jumping
out of airplanes and pillows

opening, or parachutes
opening, and Hitler.

I knew that it had
to be World War II,

so that's where we knew we
needed to start looking.

I knew he had to have
been a German soldier,

but come to find out, he wasn't.

I actually took Elijah
to an antique store,

and we found some
World War II displays--

different metals,
different displays.

He pointed to one
particular knife that

had a swastika on
it, and he said,

I took that off
a German soldier.

I had one just like that.

After watching a particular
movie, he heard the name Peter,

and it triggered a memory.

My name is Peter--

like Peter, not Peter, but he
wanted me to call him Peter.

Elijah drew the
airplane for me first,

and it was as good as he
could do at two years old.

So it gave us a direction
to start looking.

And so we got on the computer
and scrolled through images

of airplanes from World War II.

And I told him, I said,
you point at the one

that you think is it.

And so as we went through,
he kept saying, well,

that might be it.

That's kind of like that, but it
didn't have that kind of tail.

And then, all of a
sudden, we scrolled up,

and he said, that's it.

And he almost put his
finger through the computer.

He said, that's it right there.

Turned out to be a
Russian airplane.

Another very good clue as to
where he may have come from--

Peter is a strong European
name, and a strong Soviet name.

So we had another direction.

And we had to find out more.

I'm glad that at the time
he was at least an ally.

At first it was
very confusing to me

about all the
different experiences

he was having, and then
I started finding that

they were all connected.

I just started seeing a
thread of common experiences.

The fact that he spoke German,
that he spoke of planes

and drew pictures of war.

He reenacted battles
with his action figures.

All of this was leading me as
if it was a mystery to solve

of maybe who Elijah was before.

My son, Elijah, drew pictures
of World War II, a Soviet plane

over and over.

He could understand
and speak some German,

and insisted on
being called Peter.

He had memories
of being a soldier

and drew pictures of war.

All of this was leading me as
if it was a mystery to solve

of maybe who Elijah was before.

Elijah started talking about
helping children to safety.

He drew pictures,
and I can remember

seeing the little figure
and the children with him.

He always had his
gun and his cross on,

and he was just leading them.

I said, where
did you take them?

We slipped them out and took
them to different countries.

He talked about
being underground,

hiding in caves, tree houses.

I thought, what in the world?

Children?

It was time to
put it all together,

so we started investigating
where this came from.

I started looking for
underground, Russian,

Russian children, any kind of
trigger words that he had said.

And suddenly the
Russian partisan

popped up in my search.

And as I looked into
that, I realized

I had found the missing link.

When we found out about
the Russian troops that

were dropped in to
help the partisans,

they were dropped in by air.

They came in in the
same type of airplane

that Elijah spoke to us about.

Many of them were
intercepted and shot down.

Then they had to get
out really quick.

And all this was
coming together.

I thought, my baby was
in the middle of that,

and he has memories of that.

And I think that's
when the horror set in

because I thought, my god,
what had he experienced?

How can he handle this now?

I'm Elijah and
I am 11 years old.

My mom found this
book at a college.

We had looked through,
like, 200 pages to find me.

We found something
kind of like me--

someone kind of like me.

Yeah, we think it's him--

well, me.

I found a man that had
started out as lieutenant,

had been promoted to colonel
due to a battle right

on the border of Belorussia that
matched a battle that Elijah

had described.

He had the part of
the air assault.

He had been shot down, of
course, when that was crushed,

and how he had become part of
the Russian partisan movement.

His name-- Colonel Petrovsky.

It matched everything
that Elijah

had said about being Peter.

Petrovsky.

Everything started
coming into play.

Every question that we had,
every detail that we had,

and every clue that we had as
we started trying to fit it

into this puzzle--

it snapped in.

It was amazing because they
didn't fit anywhere else.

We tried.

I knew that was him.

I just knew it was him.

Elijah had given us enough clues
about being injured with a trip

wire and injuring his ankle,
several things about being shot

down, and it all matched.

It all matched.

And we were so thrilled.

But then something happened that
shocked me more than anything

he had ever done before.

Our son, Eric, would
talk about things that

happened before he was born.

It hurt to know that I couldn't
prevent the nightmares.

I couldn't do
anything to help him.

I couldn't prevent them.

I couldn't even do much to
calm him down afterwards.

I was concerned that Eric's
past life trauma was affecting

him in this life.

A few months
before Eric turned four,

things had gotten
worse with him.

His fascination with Hollywood
was really becoming extreme.

I was very protective of Eric.

I never spoke with
anybody about it.

I just didn't want him
subjected to anybody teasing him

or doubting him because I
totally believe that Eric has

had a past life.

We began to be worried
about him and his well being.

I feel like Eric had unfinished
business from his past life,

so we located the two surviving
daughters of Sidney Howard.

Contacted the Howard family,
and ended up arranging a trip

out there for Eric.

I thought taking Eric
to the Howard farm

would give it some
sort of closure,

and actually, we thought that
might break his night terrors,

too.

When we arrived out
on the Howard farm,

the daughters were
very receptive, very

friendly, hugged Eric, took
us on a tour of his house

and the grounds and
up to the farmhouses.

Just down from Sidney
Howard's house,

there's a small pond with
a man made waterfall.

Eric walked over and
stood near the waterfall.

He said that he always
liked that spot.

The pond that we
were at was a pond

that Sidney Howard and his wife
enjoyed swimming in together.

It was kind of like their
little romantic spot.

And Eric had a great day.

He actually, to me, felt
right at home there.

There wasn't any nervousness.

Usually Eric is pretty shy
when he walks into a new house,

or there's a lot
of people around.

So he definitely felt
relaxed around there.

We were able to tour the
cemetery where Sidney Howard

was buried.

When we pulled up to the
cemetery, Eric seemed angry,

and he said, I know this place.

Why are we here?

I was worried that the
trip might have triggered

some traumatic
memories for Eric.

I was extremely nervous.

When we pulled up to the
cemetery, Eric seemed angry.

And he said, I know this place.

Why are we here?

I was extremely nervous.

Eric didn't need
any direction.

He pretty much walked right up
to Sidney Howard's headstone.

I felt like Eric
knew what he was doing.

He did know this place.

I'm sure he
recognized the place.

For him to walk right
up to the tombstone,

to me, was an affirmation
that he knew where he was,

that he had been here
before, and that he

knew what was going on.

The trip to Sidney Howard's farm
didn't ease Eric's nightmares.

"Gone with the Wind" was
for released the year

that Sidney Howard died.

He became the first person
to posthumously win an Oscar.

Sidney Howard wasn't there
to receive his award,

and he didn't live
long enough to know

how huge the movie became.

I'm not sure if I feel like
Eric had unfinished business

from his past life,
but Sidney Howard

was only 48 when he died.

When I step back and think about
how it must've felt for him,

it devastates me as his mom
who loves him unconditionally

and would do anything for him.

It's hard for me to
accept that he had

to go through that struggle.

Nothing seemed to help him,
so I did the only thing

that was left to do.

Take him to Hollywood.

I want to go to
Hollywood because I've

been talking about Hollywood
since I was little.

I used to live in Hollywood.

Eric, we're finally here.

We're in Hollywood.
Are you excited?

- Yeah.
- Yeah?

I bet you are.

How long have you been
waiting to come to Hollywood?

Since I can remember.

Eric's been asking to go
to Hollywood his entire life,

so I'm hoping that by bringing
him here and allowing him

to see some things and tour
some spots that have connections

with his past that maybe
it'll help him find closure.

Hi, Eric, welcome to
the Hollywood museum.

I've arranged for a
"Gone with the Wind"

expert to give Eric a Sidney
Coe Howard tour of Hollywood.

I'm hoping that Eric
will be able to connect

with his past life.

Eric, I understand you have a
special fascination with "Gone

with the Wind."

Mm-hm.

Do you want to be a
writer when you grow up?

Yeah.

I'm glad I finally got to
bring him out here so that he

could just achieve this dream
and to have that connection

to who he used to be.

Have you ever touched
an Academy Award?

Would you like to hold this one?

I brought Eric to Hollywood
because it was such a huge part

of his past, and I wanted
him to be able to put

his past behind him.

I am relieved that
this is behind us.

Eric's memories were
a huge part of my life

and this family for so long,
but it's getting further away

from us now where normal
is starting to look

like life without the memories.

Moving forward in his
life, Eric has to be Eric.

I hope he just does
what he wants to do

and is his own individual.

Since
coming home, Eric's

been a normal, happy,
seven-year-old boy.

Eric really enjoys
riding this bike.

He rides it through the
neighborhood, up to the parks,

and to play with friends.

And I think he's
definitely going

to move forward as
Eric now and leave

Sidney Howard in the past.

We knew that he
was a Soviet soldier.

We knew that he had something to
do with an underground dealing

with children.

The second I heard
about this man's life,

I just knew it was
him, but then something

happened that shocked
me more than anything

this amazing boy had ever
done or said in the past.

I found out that my unit was
getting ready to be deployed

to Iraq in direct
harm's way, and I

knew I had to break
this to my family.

So I decided to talk to
my wife first about it,

and we both decided to go in and
talk to the children about it.

We sat them down, and I'll never
forget the looks on their faces

when I told them that I was
getting ready to be shipped

overseas to Iraq.

Elijah told me that he needed
to speak with his father man

to man, and he asked
me to leave the room.

But I stayed in the
hallway and listened.

I was expecting,
daddy, don't leave.

Daddy, are you coming back?

Daddy, where are you going?

Will I be able to talk to you?

Instead, it was
a veteran soldier

talking to a man that was
getting ready to go into war.

He said, when these bombs
start falling down on you,

it's OK, just get down.

You'll be all right.

The lower you get,
the better you'll be.

I-- I never forgot that.

I took that with me--

the fact that my son told
me something like that.

And I needed it.

I needed it later on.

So we arrived in
Camp Taji, Iraq.

The very first day, you're
getting a look around,

you're starting to see
what's going on around you,

and next thing you
know, out of nowhere--

boom.

This loud explosion.

The shell just went off.

My boots just hit the ground,
and we're under attack.

In that brief moment,
you're like, oh my god.

This is really happening.

So I hit the dirt,
cupped my ears,

and I'm sitting there
thinking, this is not

the way I want to die.

I'm thinking, OK, as
soon as this stops,

I'm going to get up
and run for our bunker.

And then that
moment comes across

of my son told me that when
the shells start falling,

just get to the ground.

Get as low as you can.

There was a lot of
peace that came over me

because I knew this was
going to be OK, you know.

I just went back in
time to that moment

when he was sitting there in
my living room what that stoic

face telling me, when
the shells start falling,

just get as low as you
can and you'll be OK.

And I knew I was
going to be all right.

And as soon as there
was a lull, I jumped up.

I cleared about 100 yards
in probably two seconds.

I moved into a bunker,
and everybody's grabbing

me-- are you OK?

You know, want to make
sure I wasn't hurt.

Yeah, I'm fine.

I'm fine.

People slapping me,
moving me around.

You OK?

You sure you're OK?

I'm fine.

And when I got in
there, it was just, OK.

I'm going to be all right.

I'm going to make
it through this.

Did Elijah come to
me for that moment?

Was he sent from the past to
help me get through something?

Was this a gift to me?

Who knows?

I don't know, but I'm sure
thankful he was there.

Now, I believe that he did
do this because of the things

he's told us.

There's no way that child would
have known without being there.

He had no way of knowing.

He's too young to know.

We have adjusted, and we
know now that things happen

for a reason.

We don't know why he
was given to us, now,

but we are thankful.

Now that I've
experienced combat,

I've seen the things
that I've seen--

this changes you.

And I understand the reason
why Elijah is the way he is.

Even though it was
in another life,

I'm sure that so many
things carried on.

And we have, I think,
a stronger connection.

Elijah-- it's
getting a lot better.

He can deal with these memories.

I've often thought to myself,
if I could take this from him,

would I?

If I had the ability
to remove this--

these memories and everything
from him, would I do it?

And that answer is no
because I know that it's

part of his
personality, and there's

a reason why this has happened.

What Colonel Petrovsky did
deserves honor and respect,

and I hope that that
will lead Elijah

into having the same
lifestyle of honor and respect

and taking care of others.

In this life, I still
want to help people,

but in different ways.

I do not have any kind of form
of wanting to be a soldier.

That's in the past.

If you're a parent and
you're going through this,

it's so much better to try to
help that child through it.

This is who they are.

This is part of their soul.

And you need to allow them to
grow and just see what they're

going to become.