MR. KOJO NNAMDIThe everyday challenges of child rearing are sometimes barely enough for two present parents to handle, so imagine being a single military parent coping with deployments, post traumatic stress and a preschooler. It's the familiar juggling act for many who serve and it's the focus of a new feature film. Here to preview the story and share the inspiration behind it is Claudia Myers. She is a fulltime professor of film and media arts at American University. She just completed her third feature film "Fort Bliss" which she wrote, produced and directed. Claudia Myers, welcome. Thank you for joining us.

MS. CLAUDIA MYERSThank you for having me.

NNAMDIThis film opens with an IED attack and a firefight where Maggie, an army medic, treats the wounded in a job that puts her in the line of fire even though women aren't technically allowed to serve in combat roles yet. Why was it important to start the story immersed in that kind of action?

MYERSWell, I wanted to show a couple of things about the character. One of the first things was that I wanted us to see what her world was like and see what the importance of her job was to her. She's a medic. It's her job to save lives. And she's passionate about what she does. It's her calling and she has a strong sense of duty so I wanted to -- I wanted us to feel that right away. And I -- yeah.

NNAMDITo feel her in the middle of a very scary situation right at the beginning, charging out of that vehicle after an IED had hit. Frankly I was scared watching it. If you'd like to join the conversation, if you have questions or comments for us, call us at 800-433-8850. If you've deployed overseas, tell us about your homecoming experience. Was it tougher than expected? If you're part of a military family, what has been the easiest and the most difficult adjustment after a separation, 800-433-8850? You can send email to kojo@wamu.org.

NNAMDIClaudia Myers, it turns out the attack takes place on Maggie's last day in Afghanistan. She's going home to her son Paul but her homecoming is not what she was expecting. Given the number of happy reunion photos and videos of parents surprising kids that we've all seen, did you feel it was important to show a different scenario?

MYERSI did. I think I was trying to suggest that there is something more complicated about that experience, whether or not there's an initial euphoria of being reunited. I think there's a lot going on underneath that experience and I did want to kind of shock the viewer into realizing that this was not going to be -- that her journey was going to be difficult and she was going to be met with a lot of things that didn't meet her expectations.

NNAMDIWell, it is true, as her ex-husband points out very early in the film, 15 months is an eternity to a four-year-old, something she didn't seem really to grasp until she actually confronts her four-year-old and he just stares.

MYERSThat's right. I think there's a hope that, you know, when you deploy -- and I think on both sides, for both sides of the family, both the deployed members and the members that stay home, there's a sense that you can pick up where you left off. And I think that's often not true, that both sides have found a way to move on in the absence of the other. And of course some people do find a way to reconnect but it's difficult and it's a process.

NNAMDIThat was a very emotional moment certainly for me watching her watch her son and watching him watch her and not move or show any sign of recognition at all. Though your story is about a single mom, it's my understanding that it was inspired by a single military father you met. How did that encounter come about?

MYERSWell, the idea for "Fort Bliss" actually came about while I was researching a training film, not coincidentally, at the actual Fort Bliss down in Texas. And in the course of doing several focus groups to identify some of the issues that I was going to address with the training film , I was interviewing a group of army soldiers. And they happened to be infantry soldiers. And one of them was a single father. And I happened to ask him what he did with his son while he was deployed. He had gone on two tours to Iraq. And he told me the mother wasn't in the picture and that he had to leave his son with his neighbors.

MYERSAnd as a parent, I was so struck by that statement and that reality. And it occurred to me that I had never really thought about that side of the war and what that burden must be on the parent leaving their kid not even with family. And then, you know, the flip side of that is what that must be like for the child to be without a parent.

NNAMDIOur guest is Claudia Myers. She's a professor of film and media arts at American University. She has just completed her third feature film, "Fort Bliss," which she wrote, produced and directed. That's what we're discussing today. Inviting you to join the conversation at 800-433-8850. As a civilian, have you found that a movie or book has given you better insight into military life than media coverage? Tell us what changed your perspective, if so. 800-433-8850. You have worked with the military on numerous film projects. You just mentioned the training film. Given that experience and those connections, did you feel like you had an advantage coming into the story, in terms of ensuring authenticity?

MYERSI didn't have an advantage coming in. I think I had a not -- disadvantage. I was a civilian with no military background. But I think what I brought to it was a curiosity and a genuine desire to understand and know more. And so I -- over a period of five years, I pursued projects that I felt would give me greater insight into the complexities of these situations, and did several documentaries and an additional training film about combat stress, to feel that I did have a better handle on, you know, the emotional reality that I was trying to portray.

NNAMDIOn to the telephones. Here is Desmond in Alexandria, Va. Desmond, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

DESMONDHi, Kojo.

NNAMDIHi, Desmond.

DESMONDThanks for taking my call.

NNAMDIYou're welcome.

DESMONDI just wanted to comment on -- I just wanted to comment on the fact that by returning from combat and coming home to a family, I really wanted to say how thankful I am for the VA helping me to adjust. Because I didn't -- when I left, when I came back home, I really expected everything to be the way I left it, as in family and friends not moving on. But when I got back home, everybody had moved on and that was tough experience for me. So with help from the VA and I was able to get through that. So I want to make that comment.

NNAMDIWhen you say...

DESMONDThere's some negative news about the VA, but they helped me personally, so.

NNAMDIWhen you say you got help from the VA because everyone else had moved on, was that a part of the trauma that you experienced coming home?

DESMONDYeah, part of the trauma coming home -- my biggest thing was -- well not to get too personal, when I deployed, my roommate committed suicide. So coming back home to a family that I expected to be there for me, everybody had moved on. So I was, in the space of like just seeing everybody's leaving, everybody's leaving. So first thing that's easy to turn to was alcohol and then the next thing was driving. So I just had -- I had to have a moment and I reached out for help. And the VA was there. They helped me. I had a bunch of programs I went through. And that helped me a lot.

NNAMDIOkay. Thank you very much for your call. Care to comment on that at all, Claudia?

MYERSI just want to say I've certainly heard that a number of times. And that is, you know, a small part of what I was hoping to address, that there's this misconception that you can come back and pick up where you left off. And it's a lot harder, I think, than a lot of people realize.

NNAMDIIn the case of Maggie in your film, Maggie turns to her dad -- a Vietnam vet -- for some encouragement. He's not in the film for long, but how important was that connection?

MYERSIt was very important for me to show that Maggie was from a military family. That there was a strong and proud tradition of the military in her back story. And that he is someone who can relate to what she's going through, so she's not completely alone. On the other hand, he's not real good at talking. And so there's a lot that's unspoken.

NNAMDIIf you've got questions or comments for Claudia Myers about what it's like to make a war film about the modern military, give us a call at 800-433-8850. Or send email to kojo@wamu.org. Maggie's decisions about her career, which you get the impression is really more of a calling, shape the second half of this film. But continuing that career means that she and her ex have to find some middle ground in caring for Paul. Let's take a listen to an exchange between Maggie and Ron, her ex, as they try to navigate the future.

RONI didn't know how to handle him either. You know who did a good job, is Alma. You should be grateful to her. Turned him back into a happy kid again. I know it's hard. And I know it's a lot to come back to. And, I don't know, maybe Paul should come back and stay with us for a while.

MAGGIEWhy?

RON'Cause I want what's best for Paul.

MAGGIEAnd you don't think I can take care of him?

RONI think if you wanted to take care of him, you wouldn't have stayed in the Army.

NNAMDIThe tension we hear in that clip is pretty obvious. But there seems to be also a kind of double standard there as well.

MYERSWell, I think the film is trying to raise some questions about, you know, how we perceive this character -- this mother that's torn between her, you know, her career and her family, in the sort of most basic terms. And the question is, do we judge her differently for being a mother who's trying to balance career and family, then we would view a father. If it were a male soldier going off to war and leaving his child, do we bring the same judgment against that situation than we do when it's a woman. So I think there is an aspect of this where it's really the ultimate working-mother story and sort of posing questions really more than offering answers.

NNAMDIAs Maggie and Paul get used to one another again, there are tense moments -- arguments over dinners and adjustments to childcare that any parent can empathize with. As a parent with a demanding career, how relatable was Maggie to you?

MYERSWell, very relatable. I think that's why I wrote it. I think that's what drew me in from the get-go. I found that even though, at the outset, this experience was so foreign to me that I felt on a visceral level that I really could relate. And I'm hoping that's the experience a lot of people have when they watch the movie. That a lot of us are trying to figure out how to be good parents and make an impact in some way through what we're doing -- doing something meaningful. But those two things are often in conflict. And so it was really a way to explore that tension.

NNAMDISpeaking of judgments, to go back there for a second, I think we do tend to make different judgments about women who choose careers in the military than we do about men. Because all too often, we still think of women in purely traditional terms. What responses have you got about that aspect of the movie, so far?

MYERSI think the responses obviously differ, depending on, you know, the perspective of the person watching the film. I think the female veterans that have seen the film have responded very favorably to the movie and have felt a kind of an accurate portrayal of what they experienced. I think -- I think the way people react to the film will depend on how they view, you know, the ultimate outcome of the story. I think it's -- I think there's going to be a range of responses.

NNAMDI800-433-8850. Our guest is Claudia Myers. She's a professor of film and media arts at American University. We're just discussing her third feature film, "Fort Bliss," which she wrote, produced and directed. We're inviting your calls at 800-433-8850. You can send email to kojo@wamu.org. Or you can shoot us a tweet @kojoshow. Your cast includes Michelle Monahan as Maggie, Ron Livingston as her ex Ron, and a host of other familiar faces. How was the filming experience both for you and for them?

MYERSThe experience of shooting this film was incredibly positive for me. The cast was so committed and so enthusiastic about the story, about the parts that they played. It was -- I would say a lot of the time it was a, you know, for being a drama, it was a surprisingly lighthearted set, although there were some very, you know, challenging scenes and sort of difficult scenes emotionally. But I would say it was a very, very positive experience. And it was certainly -- the conditions of the film were difficult. We shot it in 21 days. We were in the desert at times, in temperatures well over 100 degrees. The days were long. But I think everyone was really on the same page creatively, and that made it really easy.

NNAMDIAfter you explained all of the material conditions, if you will, the physical conditions, to hear the word lighthearted in that context is very difficult, given the subject matter and the conditions under which you were filming. You must have had an amazingly cooperative cast who understood what you were trying to do.

MYERSYeah. And I just have to say, Michelle was so dedicated and so committed to really capturing this portrait of a soldier with honesty and a sense of authenticity. She went down to Fort Bliss ahead of the shoot and trained for several days. She did an accelerated medic training course. She learned all the techniques -- all the medical techniques that she performs in the film she, you know, learned how to do, under close supervision. She spent time with a number of female soldiers, single parents, and really got to sort of hear directly from them what their experience was like. And I think all of that really infused the film with a sense of -- a sense of purpose.

NNAMDIHere, now, is Carolena in Arlington, Va. Carolena, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

CAROLENAHi, Kojo. You know, this sounds like a fantastic film. I just wanted to point out, a couple of years ago, I wrote and illustrated a children's book called "Daddy's Home," which -- the beginning part, it talks to children about when -- the difficulties of sort of reintegrating into family life for the military parent, but then does go into explaining the invisible wounds of war, such as PTSD. So it's for the children of combat veterans. So just wanted to point that out.

NNAMDIWell, I'm glad you pointed that out. Because to what extent does this movie, Carolena, not only be instructive to parents and general audiences about what goes on when people leave the military, but to what extent can it be useful for children?

CAROLENARight. No, it -- I think it could be. Because I think a lot of kids are dealing with these issues. And they're not seeing it really in films or anywhere. And we all -- I remember about five or six years ago, when I thought about doing this book, I would see these little clips of the parents coming home from war. And then the children, you know, sort of rushing into their arms. And, you know, everybody's happy and it's great. But I guess coming from a family where it's not -- it wasn't a military family, but it was a family with mental illness -- and I just wondered what was happening a week later or two weeks later, you know, when some symptoms of PTSD were coming.

NNAMDIClaudia Myers?

MYERSWell, first of all, your children's book sounds wonderful and I really look forward to checking it out. I think you're bringing up exactly the point that I was, you know, that I was interested in as well, which is, you know, what is the impact of these deployments on children? And how does, you know, the separation affect the primal bond between a mother and her child. You know, when the character comes back, she's great at being a soldier, but she's really out of practice being a mom.

NNAMDIAnd she's struggling with PTSD.

MYERSAnd she's dealing with, you know, some very heavy baggage from her deployment. And then on the other side, the film does try to, you know, at least hint at the difficulty of the experience and sort of its impact on the child, how he's changed when she comes back. And what -- and there's some symptoms of what he's been -- the strain that he's been under as well.

NNAMDIThank you so much for your call, Carolena. We move on now to Jack in Bay Bridge. Jack, you're on the air. Go ahead, please. Thanks, Kojo. I'm really enjoying the show. Kojo, I'm the executive director of a community mediation center in Maryland. There are actually 18 centers scattered all over the state. We provide free mediation services, conflict resolution services to all kinds of people. But one of the things we do specifically is to help when veterans are coming back from deployments and having difficulties reintegrating with their families. So I wanted to get that out there today.

NNAMDIOkay. And you may want to stay on the line so we can post on our website how those services can be accessed by people who are interested in accessing them. So I'm going to put you on hold. And someone will take your information. Jack, thank you very much for your call. Despite your success in Hollywood, Claudia, your home base remains here. What keeps you in D.C., apart from coming on this show from time to time?

MYERSNaturally. A couple of things -- my family, first of all and foremost. And also, as you mentioned, I'm a professor in the school of communication at American University. And I enjoy teaching. I feel like it's actually a really great complement to being a filmmaker to, you know, it allows me to reflect on the craft, to stay current. My students keep me on my toes. And it frankly gives me the freedom and the flexibility to pursue projects that I'm passionate about.

NNAMDIBut there are people who say, how can you do it successfully without surrounding yourself with the environment in Hollywood where most of this is done? What's the key to that? Your students?

MYERSNo, the key to that is that I would never have written "Fort Bliss," I would never have discovered this type of story, if it hadn't been for being in Washington, D.C. And like I said, it started with work on an Army training film. I think sometimes just experiencing life outside of Hollywood is a -- can be very -- can be an inspiration.

NNAMDIThis film premiered in Toronto last year. How has the reception been so far? And how can our listeners see it?

MYERSThe film actually -- just a correction -- the film premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival. But the reception -- it screened at a number of festivals and it's -- we've been honored to receive awards at all of them. The reception so far has been tremendous. We had the great privilege of screening the film for an audience of about 400 veterans at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles last week. And I feel like people are very enthusiastic about the film.

MYERSAnd then outside the military community, people are I think connecting with it in ways that surprise them. You know, the -- people seem to think that it's authentic and that it -- and it portrays an experience that's not often seen in films. I think the female perspective is not all that prevalent in our culture, and certainly not the, you know, the female military experience specifically.

NNAMDIWell, I can say I have no hesitation in recommending "Fort Bliss." Here is Florence in Alexandria, Va. Florence, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

FLORENCEHi, Kojo. I really want to thank you guys for addressing this topic because it really is critical. My husband deployed twice. Reintegration, trying to get to know each other again, was very difficult. And I saw, first hand, the toll it took on families in so many ways.

NNAMDIYep. And that's what you see reflected in this movie. And that's -- this is something that you are still living and dealing with, right Florence?

FLORENCEYeah, we all are. Our spouses change in very different ways. Our -- the moms and dads of these kids change in ways that you just don't expect -- you don't anticipate. And even though the military does a great job of classes an methodologies and ways in getting you prepared for that soldier, that service member coming home, you still -- there's no way to prepare for that. You don't know what they've been through. And I think one of the most difficult things that we found as spouses, and even the kids saw, is the service member ended up having a stronger connection with the person they were deployed with. And it took them a long time to reintegrate back into that family. So even when they're back...

NNAMDII'm afraid we're almost out of time. But I'd like to have Claudia respond to that very quickly.

MYERSYeah, everything you're saying just, you know, just sounds so familiar to me. And I think that's just a really shared experience among service members and their families.

NNAMDIAnd you can certainly see it in the film, "Fort Bliss." Claudia Myers is a professor of film and media arts at American University. She wrote, produced and directed that film. Thank you so much for joining us.

MYERSThank you so much for having me.

NNAMDIThis Wednesday in the noon hour, we'll be joined by WAMU 88.5's own Kavitha Cardoza to discuss her documentary on the nation's nearly 2 million military children. Tune in to morning edition all this week to hear her work, and catch her here Wednesday at noon. Thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIComing up tomorrow on "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," the dark side of free speech. Sites like Reddit, 4chan and Twitter don't police bad behavior on the Web. Tech Tuesday explores the challenge of curbing abusive posts and cyber creeps. Then at 1:00, foreign governments pour millions into Washington's think tanks. We explore the blurry line between research and lobbying. "The Kojo Nnamdi Show" noon till 2:00 tomorrow on WAMU 88.5 and streaming at kojoshow.org.