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Description
Leo Solis was drafted into the Army in 1968 and during his time in the Army he was wounded several times, his platoon-mates dubbing him ""Tin Can"" because of it. He was temporarily paralyzed from his injuries, earning him a medical discharge from the Army in 1969. Within a year, and with lots of rehabilitation, he was walking again. Within that year, however, the Department of Veterans Affairs demanded that he return to get his disability (which had previously been put at 50%) reevaluated to make sure that he was not ""scamming the government."" This reevaluation reduced his benefits by 10%, making him feel wronged, and so he never wanted to be treated at the Veterans Affairs Facility ever again. Mr. Solis has worked his way up in the ranks of physical special effects and currently has his own special effects rental business. He has worked on such wide-ranging films as Pirates of the Carribbean and Inception. A link to his work is below: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0813105/ The nature of his work has made it difficult for him to function with the lasting effects of his injuries, namely the malformation of his leg, where his calf has almost completely atrophied. Mr. Solis lives in Granada Hills, California near his family and still works in the special effects business, creating explosions, rain, snow, hail, gunfire, you name it. He does not see his experience in Vietnam as one that drastically changed him emotionally, but physically it has forever left its impact. [Profile bio] Trenton Lum Junior, Biological Sciences He is applying to change his major to Film & TV Production in the college of Cinematic Arts to fight for social improvement and fair representation for Asians and Asian-Americans. Kasey Vaughn Junior, Political Science, Air Force ROTC (Minor in Air and Space Studies) "Leo Solis is my Great Uncle, and it wasn't until we did this project that I heard a lot of his Vietnam stories. As a ROTC Cadet and member of the USAF I took this class wanting to learn as much as I could about the Vietnam War. I was fortunate enough to be able to learn about my family as well along the way." Harrison Wong Senior, Economics "As an Asian, it is interesting to learn about how history that we learn is different from reality" Justin Lewis Junior, Accounting [Profiler bio]
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