Student-produced video deemed success

"When people find out I've been to Iraq," said Dan Silver, a veteran interviewed in "The War at Home," "they ask ‘How are you doing,' like (I'm) an alien or something."
"I'm from New Hampshire, I'm fine," Silver said.

"The War at Home" is a documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and veterans coming back from war, produced by Norwich communications students.

"What we did was interviewed a bunch of veterans and we asked them all the same questions," said Brittney Schlauch, a 21-year-old junior communications major from Boca Raton, Fla. "It's basically just them telling their story."   

"You're learning a story that you wouldn't normally hear or learn from a veteran," said Alicia Hood, a 27-year-old senior communications major from San Diego, Calf.

Both Schlauch and Hood are senior producers of "The War at Home," along with four other students.

In the documentary, veterans talk about bad things they went through overseas, as well as issues they faced upon their journey home.

Adam Bradford, a 26-year-old physical education major from Riverside, Calif., is one of the veterans interviewed.

"Well, Professor Estill chased me down for like six months," said Bradford. "One of the other guys that was interviewed told him I'd been to Iraq and Afghanistan and he wanted someone who has been to both places."

"So, finally after being chased down, I decided to do it," Bradford said.

According to students that worked on the documentary, many veterans did not want to talk at first. The interviews first done weren't getting into any details of what the veterans went through.

Estill, working with students, created a seminar class for veterans. During the seminar, veterans started to talk, and eventually talked in front of the students and a camera.

Once the veterans started talking, they had the same answers to the 34 questions they were asked, according to students.

"Some people might think it was scripted," Bradford said. "We weren't all sitting in the same room together. If you think about it, some of us said the same things."

"I think it's interesting how they talk about how they have their ‘A' story and their ‘B' story," Hood said. "The ‘A' story is what they share with people and the ‘B' story is the nitty-gritty that they share with their battle buddies."

"The War at Home" is a follow up to the documentary "Vermont Fallen," which was also produced by Norwich communications students.

Many of the families of the "Vermont Fallen" soldiers wanted to know what was going on overseas and what it would have been like to have their soldiers come home.

"I didn't work on ‘Vermont Fallen'," Hood said, "but I watched it. And after talking with a lot of the families from ‘Vermont Fallen,' I guess they wanted to have some questions answered."   

"Their husbands or children didn't come back from war and they kind of wanted to hear the other side, what their fallen soldiers couldn't tell them," Hood said.

The student producers hope for "The War at Home" is that is educates the public about issues veterans are facing and what it is like to go to war.

"I think (people) will learn from it," Schlauch said. "Civilians, I guess you could say, can learn how to respect veterans and just listen to what they have to say in the film."

"I think it will bring light to people in America of what these people went through and what they sacrificed for our country," said Dave Rhoden, a 19-year-old freshman communications major from Glasbury, Conn.

"Hopefully we'll get them to understand how they can respect, how not to be (rude) about it. Treat veterans like you would treat anyone else," Rhoden said.

According to students, treating veterans as a normal person is the main message of "The War at Home."

Veterans in the film also share the same hope that people who view the video will be educated from it.

"I hope they learn something from it," Bradford said. "For me personally, I usually get a decent amount of respect from people, but there's some guys that need to be treated better and I think this video might help them out."

"There's guys who actually have problems, or that don't want to talk about it," Bradford said. "Some people don't like talking about it. I think it will paint a clearer picture for people who are unfamiliar with the military."

Students who worked on the film said they learned a lot while producing it.

"It's something I'm going to have to deal with when I commission and go over there," said Schlauch.

Producing the documentary has also helped Hood, whose husband is a veteran.
"It's helped me with my journey," Hood said. "You always want to understand what they've gone through in combat and why they've changed and why they're more distant sometimes."

"Hearing 15 or so veterans talk about the same thing and why they feel the way they do has helped me understand my husband better," Hood said. "I can understand what he's going through without having him go through the details of things that he did."

There was a screening of the documentary on March 28 in Dole Auditorium. Many families from "Vermont Fallen" were in attendance, as well as others, according to students.

Students who worked on the film, as well as some that watched it, deem "The War at Home" to be a success. There are still improvements being made on the final product.

"I think everybody should go watch ‘The War at Home' at some point," Hood said. "It will be very beneficial."

"The community at large, even families, do not understand the remarkable strength in these (soldiers), and the sacrifices they made," said Marion Gray, from East Calais, Vt.

Gray is a mother of a fallen soldier and assisted in organizing families to be interviewed for "Vermont Fallen."

"We are all in this together, bound by a war that may not end soon, and understanding goes a long way in the healing process," Gray said. "Whether is be for a fallen soldier's family or the soldier who returned to inherent problems they were not prepared for."

"Whether you support the government, whether you support the president, whether you like any of them," said Duane Henrie, an interviewee in "The War at Home," "just support the troops."