University of Alabama students create documentary about veterans "Searching for normal"

From The Crimson White at the University of Alabama. You can watch the documentary on YouTube.

Every story has a beginning, middle and end, but for many men and women of the armed forces who serve in war, sometimes the end of a war is just the beginning.

Two UA students are attempting to give a voice to the struggles of returning veterans’ as they assimilate back into society.

Dick Powers, a veteran of the Iraq War and a former UA law student, and Elizabeth Jones, a senior majoring in economics, set out to document these stories in spring 2008 for a Documenting Justice film class by making a short film. Powers narrates the film, titled “Searching for Normal.”

“As a civilian you think that you come home from the war and you’re done,” Jones said. “It was eye opening to see what ‘support the veterans’ means.”

The title came from the interviews of the military personnel.

“Every interview we had, the guys said the word normal in some form,” Jones said.

At a recent conference Powers attended, he told Brandon Friedman, director of new media for veterans affairs, about “Searching for Normal.” Friedman placed a link to the short film on the Veterans Affairs Facebook page. The film can also be seen on YouTube.com. The film was also screened during Veterans Week at the University and the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham in fall 2008.

Although it has been almost two years since the film was made, most of the praise, as well as criticism, from the military community have now begun to emerge.

There were several questions raised about the film. Bill Feely, commander of Tuscaloosa’s chapter of Disabled American Veterans, said the filmmakers presented a problem with no provided solution. Feely said there are many solutions they could have included.

Another question raised by Feely, who is also a veteran, was why there were no women included in the film. Feely said many women today are also going to war zones and serving alongside men. He said statistics show that approximately 15 percent of the armed forces are women.

However, Powers and Feely both said the film spoke to all veterans. Powers and Feely both said the soldiers who served in wars such as World War I and the Iraq War experienced some of the same problems when returning home from the war.

The prime message that both Jones and Powers said conveyed is that the film was a story they wanted to tell to both civilians and veterans.

“We are really proud that it speaks to both audiences,” Powers said.