Donna Lynn Musil (born April 15, 1960) is an American documentary filmmaker, writer, and activist exploring the

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

of U.S. military brats. She wrote and directed the 2006 documentary ''Brats: Our Journey Home'',Musil, Donna; Goodwin, Beth; Kristofferson, Kris. ''Brats: Our Journey Home''. Brats Without Borders, 2006. a film about growing up the child of a military family and the effect it has on that child's adult life. She is also the founder of Brats Without Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing awareness, celebration, and support for

military brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revise ...

s and other

third culture children Third culture kids (TCK) or third culture individuals (TCI) are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents' or the culture of their country of nationality, and also live in a different environment during a significant part of thei ...

."Brats without Borders", Federal 501c3 number: #58-2486120, http://www.bratsourjourneyhome.com/nonprofit.htm The feature-length documentary is narrated by singer-songwriter

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...

and features interviews with General

H. Norman Schwarzkopf Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (; August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all Coalition of the Gulf War, coalition forces in the Gulf ...

, author

Mary Edwards Wertsch Mary Edwards Wertsch (born Mary Brightwell Edwards on July 23, 1951) is an author, journalist, independent publisher, and expert on the subculture of American military brats. She wrote the book ''Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fo ...

, psychotherapist Stephanie Donaldson Pressman, and numerous other adult brats, aged 20 to 70. The film has been screened in over 100 locations around the United States, and has to date been screened at 21 film festivals, winning five awards.List of Film Awards for ''Brats: Our Journey Home''
/ref> Musil is also a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and attorney by trade. An expert in the field of

studies, Musil conducts extensive Q&A sessions after screenings of her film and speaks on the topic with a variety of audiences, including current and adult brats, military, educational, corporate, and mental health care professionals.

Early life

Musil was born into a career Army family on April 15, 1960. By the time she was eight, her father, Ltc. Louis F. Musil (deceased), a JAG lawyer and judge, had been away two years of her life, in the Vietnam War. Musil grew up in the very mobile lifestyle of an

Army brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revis ...

, moving frequently and never having a hometown. By the time she was sixteen, Musil had moved twelve times and lived on three different continents, including living in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

."How Can Third Culture Kids Belong? Brats: Our Journey Home"
interview with Donna Musil Musil attended three different high schools, her Ninth grade was spent at Taegu American High School in Taegu, Korea - her tenth grade at Ft. Knox, Kentucky - and after her father died of cancer two months after her 16th birthday, she finished her third and final year of high school at Columbus High School in Columbus, Georgia (graduating early). She graduated from the University of Georgia with an A.B. in Journalism in 1981 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1985, and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

Career

Musil's career has included journalism, law, documentary film-making, and writing. She worked as an on-air radio news director, an attorney with the AFL-CIO and the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; ...

, and an executive assistant with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

and

Castle Rock Entertainment Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...

, before pursuing a full-time independent writing and

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

career in 1994. She has served on the Board of Directors for Women in Film/Atlanta, and has won writer's fellowships to the Hambidge Center in Georgia, Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

, and Centrum Arts in

Port Townsend, Washington Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

. The Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Brats Without Borders, Musil currently lives in middle Georgia.

''Brats: Our Journey Home''

''Brats: Our Journey Home'' is a documentary on the

of American military brats.

Conceptualization

The idea for ''Brats: Our Journey Home'' took root during Musil's impromptu reunion with her Taegu American High School friends in Washington, DC in 1997. She then read all of the research available at the time, including

's groundbreaking book ''Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress'', and Stephanie Donaldson Pressman's ''The Narcissistic Family'', which Musil reports, opened her eyes as to "why I was the way I was." Over the next 5 years, Musil conducted her own independent research, interviewing over 500 military brats of all ages, races, religions, and branches of service, along with other experts in the field, including Wertsch and Pressman.

Reception

The documentary premiered at the Rhode Island International Film Festival in August 2006. It has to date been invited to 21 film festivals, winning five

film awards This is a list of groups, organizations, and festivals that recognize achievements in film, cinema, usually by awarding various prizes. The awards sometimes also have popular unofficial names (such as the "Oscar" for Hollywood's Academy Awards), wh ...

. It continues to be shown in and near American and Canadian military communities in the U.S, Canada, and also at many locations on or near U.S. military bases overseas.Musil, Donna (2006). ''BRATS: Our Journey Home'', Brats Without Borders, Inc. Musil has announced that The

Military Channel American Heroes Channel (formerly Military Channel and originally Discovery Wings Channel) is an American multinational pay television television network, channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The n ...

is planning to air the documentary in the near future.

Brats Without Borders

Musil is also the founder of Brats Without Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of the lives, culture, issues, and needs of current and former military brats. In 2008, Brats Without Borders launched the "BRATS Support Network & Discussion Forum", an on-line forum for brats and

third culture kid Third culture kids (TCK) or third culture individuals (TCI) are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents' or the culture of their country of nationality, and also live in a different environment during a significant part of thei ...

s of all ages. Musil continues to amass data on the effects of growing up military.

References

External links

*
BRATS: Our Journey Home
' *
Brats Without Borders
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Musil, Donna 1960 births American documentary filmmakers American women journalists Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Living people Writers from Denver University of Georgia alumni University of Georgia School of Law alumni Film directors from Colorado American women documentary filmmakers American people of Czech descent 21st-century American women