Veteran Hannah King sits outside the library in Lander on a sunny July day. She is one of six veterans featured in the “Crossing the Threshold” film.(Hannah Habermann / Wyoming Public Media)

Coming back from the military can take a million different shapes. A new documentary called “Crossing the Threshold” follows a group of Wyoming veterans from diverse backgrounds on that journey. Directed by Lander filmmaker Sophie Barksdale, it creates a space for veterans to reflect on their service, their return to civilian life, and what they still carry with them.

A 20-minute excerpt of the film will tour the state this summer and fall:

Buffalo - July 31
Encampment - August 22
Worland - September 10
Dubois - September 30
Riverton - November 10
Jackson - November 11
Lander - November 12

The screenings will include discussions between the filmmakers, local veterans and the veterans in the film, like Hudson resident Hannah King, who served in Afghanistan and is now in her 30s. Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann sat down with King outside the Lander library to hear about her journey.

Editor’s Note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Hannah Habermann: You joined the military in your mid-20s. What inspired you to enlist?

Hannah King: Yeah, I had kind of come from a military background family. I had a lot of family members, both my grandparents, my brother, cousins.

And I had looked at joining when I was 18, and it just kind of – the cards didn't fall in place, and I did some other things with my life, and then circled back around mid-20s, and it was like, "What am I doing with my life?"

Like, I need to do something more than what I'm doing, which felt like nothing. So I re-looked at it, and it was the right time, right place, and joined up, and no regrets.

HH: What clicked for you when you were there, and what was challenging?

HK: I loved the structure of the military. I just felt like I thrived in that environment. Being a part of something, having a purpose, feeling like I was fulfilling that purpose, that mission, and then just being in a structured environment.

Challenges? I think I didn't realize how much it had changed me until I came home the first time and realized, ‘Oh, I'm not the same person that I left, and my world back here hasn't changed, but I have, and how do I make those two worlds fit?’ That was a big challenge for me.

HH: Tell me about your experience with coming home after the service. What have been some of those highs and lows?

HK: I thought I would do a full 20 years, and I ended up doing six and a half. I think making the choice to leave when I did was a really hard choice, but it was one of those – I felt like I had fulfilled what I had joined to do and was ready for a different adventure, a different stage of life.

So when I left, I kind of thought, “Yep, cut and dry, like, this part's over, and now I'm gonna open up this new chapter.” And that's just never quite how life works. Your last chapter can sometimes follow you a bit.

I feel like it shaped who I am today, and it's changed how I live and approach life now.

HH: You're a hunter, and I'm curious: How does spending time outside integrate into this process of being back home and being in this new chapter of your life?

HK: Doing hard things and stretching myself in the military for so long, and then coming to the civilian life and kind of stumbling through finding the next thing, doing [and] trying new things, trying hard things like hunting, that was something I really wanted to do for a long time and had not done. I was [in] that analysis paralysis stage, and so [when] I met my husband, he was already into it. That was my entry, and we started going together.

The aspect, too, of when you're out in nature, and you're out alone, and you really get to think and process things that you don't when you're distracted in your normal day-to-day life. It's a wonderful space and opportunity to do that.

HH: What inspired you to tell your story as part of the “Crossing the Threshold” film? What was the motivation?

HK: I mean, it's kind of funny, because Sophie approached me about it. We met at a mutual friend's wedding and got chit-chatting. She was telling me about the project, and I was like, "Oh, that sounds cool." And she asked if I would be willing to do it, and I think we both were like, “Oh, let's just do an interview, see how it goes, see how you feel, see how I feel.” And then the rest was history.

I'll be honest, I don't feel like I knew what I was signing up for. I really thought it was, like, we're gonna meet and chat about it, and then we'll probably have one video interview, and that's that. This is so much bigger of a project than I realized.

But as I'm learning what it is she's doing, I've been inspired and just really enjoyed doing this with her. What an opportunity. And I think she's doing something incredible. So I feel honored. I don't feel like I am worthy or the right pick to be part of this, but she does, and that makes me just feel really honored and flattered.

HH: The film interviews quite a few different veterans with different perspectives, different experiences. What do you hope people around the state take away when they see this film?

HK: What I would love to see is people being inspired to go do something hard. Do hard things in your life. Embrace it. Hard things will bring failures. They will bring suffering. They will bring hurt and damage.

I've had stuff I've had to work through from it. But I think the benefit outweighs the cost, and it's not that you can't heal from hurt.

I would love [it] if people see that [if] people went out there and they did hard things and they sacrificed, and that's worth it, and, ‘I should go do something hard.’

HH: For you personally, what were some of the things that have helped in your healing process?

HK: Quite honestly, marrying my husband was huge. He's been such a solid rock in my life, just walking that road in grace with me of, "We're gonna take time. You've got room. I'm not gonna push you, but we're not gonna not walk through this. You don't get to just have this out. We don't get to ignore something that bubbles up. Take your time, but we're gonna walk through it."

And for me, that's what I needed.

HH: What words of wisdom would you want to share with someone who's going through their own healing process?

HK: Don't stuff it down if it bubbles up. Face it. Work through it. When you've done something hard, and if you're hurt or damaged, A, it just takes time. It's not gonna be a tomorrow thing. But then, B, don't avoid it. Don't stuff it down, but don't feed it. Don't make it a pet. Face it.

And when you face something, it takes the fear out, and then you can move past it, and then you're just gonna be so much better on the other end. You're gonna have some freedom in your life. You're gonna have peace.

The first screening of “Crossing the Threshold” will take place in Buffalo on Friday, July 31. We’ll also be sharing another interview with veteran J.C. Dye, who is also featured in the film, in the coming months.

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