Veterans skydive over seven continents in seven days to raise money for scholarships

A recently released documentary is seeking to rewrite the Hollywood narrative that all veterans are brutish and uneducated Rambo types while raising money for a nonprofit and making history.

That documentary, "Triple 7: They Said It Couldn't Be Done," directed and produced by Dan Myrick ("The Blair Witch Project") and produced by Kristian Krempel, premiered in five theaters last month.

“I wanted to portray these guys outside of the normal stereotypes that tend to render them as Rambo,” Myrick said. “I wanted to get down to the personalities and stories of these guys.”

The film followed a team of nine former U.S. and Canadian special operations service members as they successfully attempted to achieve skydiving's most elusive feat, the Triple 7— seven skydives on seven continents in seven days.
Spearheaded by retired Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille, the film also aimed to raise $7 million for Folds of Honor, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to military families. Sarraille said he served with some of the most lethal warriors in the world.

Sarraille said the public has a lot of misconceptions about America’s lethal warriors.

“They are kind, they are respectful, they are empathetic, they are extremely respectful,” he said. “They have an extremely high intellectual horsepower. Hollywood doesn’t depict that.”

The United States military is also the nation’s largest supplier of educational scholarships, Sarraille added.

“To break this narrative and to make a film for good Americans and veterans was very important to us,” he said. “It’s kind of like Beary Grylls meets the Amazing Race with the camaraderie of Band of Brothers.”

The Triple 7 team completed skydives on all seven continents in just six days, six hours, and six minutes, setting four world records in the process.

Each of the seven jumps paid tribute to a fallen U.S. military service member: Michael Monsoor, David McDowell, Robert Ramirez, Marc Lee, Dave Hall, Lou Langlais and Matthew Abbate.

Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com .