When he joined the Navy in 1975 after growing up in Hawaii and Maryland, Brian Densmore was one of the last 100 enlistees classified as “the Vietnam era.” Brian ended up serving until 1977, when he went into the Reserves. His active duty triggered major health issues, including PTSD and severe migraines that impacted his ability to work, with a doctor ordering him to be out completely from military service by 1979. The idea of getting into entertainment appealed to him, so he studied film and TV production in Arizona and did a show of his own while working for a cable company in Scottsdale. He then headed to L.A. to work as an art director (on films including Lionheart and Angel Town), but his service-related illness caught up with him just as he was offered work on a little film called Reservoir Dogs by a first-time director named Quentin Tarantino. Veterans Affairs accepted him with a 0% VA disability rating (meaning his service meant no compensation but access to several other benefits), but even that was denied in 2022.
Brian’s partner, script supervisor and IATSE Local 871 Sergeant-at-Arms Suzan Lowitz, connected with Naomi Rodda, MSW, LCSW, our Director of Home & Community-Based Services, who heads our Veterans Benefits Assistance Program to help veterans and surviving spouses learn about and access their full array of benefits. Naomi took up Brian’s cause. “She guided me through the process,” he says, “and it really cured me by deconstructing what I’d been dealing with since the late ‘70s. I wasn’t successful when I had a pro bono attorney help me get my benefits, but Naomi knew what to do.” That included getting an increased disability rating, which will help tremendously, and as Suzan explains, Naomi “came up with a lot of things that really helped, like observing that his second VA appeal was never really resolved.” Now with more financial and personal security, much-needed recovery from his PTSD, and completion of a year and a half of cancer therapy, Brian feels he can finally move forward. The Veterans Benefits Assistance program is here ready to help for other industry veterans and their families who need it. Find out by clicking here >
